Ethnic-racial background may influence college students' psychological sense of community (PSOC). Thus, it is critical to examine whether this construct is conceptualized similarly between non-Hispanic, Black and Hispanic students. This study tested the measurement invariance of the Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) across the two groups. We used data from a self-administered online survey provided to college students in 2016 in a Northeastern urban university (non-Hispanic, Black = 307; Hispanic = 409). We tested the measurement invariance of the BSCS using a series of nested multigroup confirmatory factor analyses with increasingly restrictive sets of parameters. Measurement invariance of the BSCS across non-Hispanic, Black and Hispanic college students was achieved. The BSCS successfully measures the multidimensionality of PSOC across the two groups in a college setting. Students' score on the BSCS is not biased by measurement invariance related to cultural influences. When using the BSCS, community psychologists and researchers can have confidence that the observed differences in PSOC across non-Hispanic, Black and Hispanic college students are attributable to true differences rather than a cultural understanding of the construct.

中文翻译：

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非西班牙裔、黑人和西班牙裔大学生的简短社区感量表的测量不变性

民族-种族背景可能会影响大学生的心理社区意识（PSOC）。因此，检查非西班牙裔、黑人和西班牙裔学生之间是否以类似的方式概念化这一结构至关重要。本研究测试了两组的简短社区感量表 (BSCS) 的测量不变性。我们使用了 2016 年在东北城市大学（非西班牙裔，黑人 = 307；西班牙裔 = 409）提供给大学生的自我管理在线调查数据。我们使用一系列嵌套多组验证性因素分析和越来越严格的参数集来测试 BSCS 的测量不变性。实现了非西班牙裔、黑人和西班牙裔大学生的 BSCS 测量不变性。BSCS 成功地衡量了大学环境中两组 PSOC 的多维性。学生在 BSCS 上的分数不会因与文化影响相关的测量不变性而产生偏差。使用 BSCS 时，社区心理学家和研究人员可以确信，在非西班牙裔、黑人和西班牙裔大学生中观察到的 PSOC 差异可归因于真正的差异，而不是对结构的文化理解。