An Examination of Measurement Invariance of the Brief Suicide Cognitions Scale

ABSTRACT Background The Brief Suicide Cognitions Scale (B‐SCS) is a self‐report measure of suicidogenic cognitions. This study evaluated measurement invariance of the B‐SCS among different subgroups. Secondarily, this study sought to evaluate the replicability of the psychometric validity, reliability, and factor structure of the B‐SCS. Methods Participants included undergraduate students ( N = 2000) recruited between 2022 and 2023. Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) were conducted comparing participants by race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Results Results support the existence of a unidimensional factor structure of the B‐SCS. Multigroup CFA analyses yielded all levels of measurement invariance across White and Black, Hispanic and Non‐Hispanic, cisgender men and women, and heterosexual and sexual minority individuals. Additionally, the B‐SCS was found to have strong internal consistency and good concurrent validity. Finally, the B‐SCS was able to discriminate between participants who had a history of suicide attempts and those who did not. Conclusion These results indicate that the B‐SCS is a valid and reliable tool to be used in assessing suicidogenic cognitions. Moreover, results from measurement invariance analyses indicate that this tool may be viable to use within specific sub‐populations examined within this study.