title: Sensitivity to disgust, stigma, and adjustment to life with a colostomy.
abstract: We examined whether trait disgust sensitivity predicts well-being in colostomy patients, and whether disgust predicts stigmatizing attitudes about colostomy in non-patients. 195 patients with a colostomy returned a mailed survey including measures of disgust sensitivity, life satisfaction, mood, and feelings of being stigmatized. We also conducted an internet-survey of a non-patient sample (n = 523). In the patient sample, we observed negative correlations between a bowel-specific measure of disgust sensitivity and life satisfaction (r = -.34, p<.01), and colostomy adjustment ( r = -.42, p<.01), and a positive correlation with feeling stigmatized because of the colostomy (r = .54, p<.01). Correlations between a general trait disgust measure and these outcomes were more modest. A structural equation model indicated that colostomy patients who had high disgust sensitivity felt more stigmatized, and this was in turn strongly related to lower life satisfaction. Concordantly, in the non-patient sample we observed that disgust sensitivity was a significant, positive predictor of wanting less contact with colostomy patients (r = .22, p < .01).
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs and University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Dylan M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Loewenstein
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rozin
authors.forename: Ryan L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Sherriff
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ubel