Chronic and contextual identity salience: Assessing dual-dimensional salience with the Identity Salience Questionnaire (ISQ)

<p dir="ltr"><i>Identity Salience</i> is a common construct within social identity research. However, researchers note that it is poorly defined and inconsistently operationalized. We posit that identity salience comprises two elements: <i>chronic</i> (perpetually thinking about the identity) and <i>contextual</i> (only thinking about the identity when prompted) <i>salience</i>. We present evidence for this claim through the development and validation of the dual-dimensional <i>Identity Salience Questionnaire</i> (ISQ). Studies 1-2 (<i>N</i>s=414; 1,069) provide exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic evidence of the ISQ among LGBTIQA+ participants. Study 2 also provides evidence of measurement invariance, convergent, predictive, and discriminant validity, and internal reliability. Study 3 (<i>N</i>=318) indicates strong test-retest reliability. Study 4 (<i>N</i>=107 social psychologists) confirms the ISQ’s content validity. Future research for the ISQ is discussed.</p>