Measurement Invariance of the Perceived Invalidation of Emotion Scale: An Examination Across Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Intersection of Identities.

The Perceived Invalidation of Emotions Scale (PIES), developed to measure emotional invalidation, could aid research efforts on various internalizing disorders and minority mental health. A prerequisite for its use includes its psychometric evaluation in diverse samples; thus, the current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PIES in a combined sample of minoritized adults (N = 876). Results supported a unidimensional structure of the PIES that was invariant across the two minoritized samples, race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and intersections of race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. A reduced 7- and 4-item PIES with improved unidimensionality and consequentially more interpretable total scores were generated using item response theory analyses. Significant correlations observed between theoretically relevant constructs of adverse mental health outcomes and the PIES above and beyond identity-based discrimination supported the construct validity of the PIES. Implications include the disproportionate amount of emotional invalidation experienced by individuals with minoritized sexual orientation, which may reflect the recent increases in discrimination faced by these individuals.

Regulation of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-beta isoform synthesis by alternative translational initiation at multiple AUG start sites.

The mRNA of the intronless, single-copy CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-beta (C/EBPbeta) gene encodes several isoforms that have truncated transcription activation domains. This occurs by the alternative translational initiation (ATI) at multiple AUG start sites. The C/EBPbeta mRNA has four in-frame AUGs and an internal out-of-frame AUG associated with a small open reading frame (sORF). Initiation of translation at the in-frame AUGs forms 40-kDa (AUG-1), 35-kDa (AUG-2), 20-kDa (AUG-3) and 8.5-kDa (AUG-4) isoforms. We show that in COS-1 cells the 20-kDa isoform is not a product of proteolysis of the higher molecular weight isoforms. The sORF contains an AUG and termination signal that may produce the oligopeptide MPPAAARRL. Our studies suggest that ATI involves three mRNA structural features: (i) the cap structure, (ii) the context of the Kozak sequences that flank the AUG and (iii) the integrity of the sORF. We propose that formation of C/EBPbeta isoforms is accomplished by a leaky ribosomal scanning mechanism that facilitates ATI of multiple internal AUGs.