title: Validation of a brief stigma-by-association scale for use with HIV/AIDS-affected youth in South Africa.
abstract: This study validated a brief stigma-by-association scale for use with South African youth (adapted from the HIV Stigma-by-Association Scale for Adolescents). Participants were 723 youth (364 male, 359 female) from poor urban communities around Cape Town. Youths completed the brief stigma-by-association scale and measures of bullying victimisation and peer-problems, as well as inventories measuring symptoms of depression and anxiety. Exploratory analyses revealed that the scale consists of two subscales: (1) experience of stigma-by-association and (2) consequences of stigma-by-association. This two factor structure was obtained in the full sample and both the HIV/AIDS-affected and unaffected subgroups. The full stigma-by-association scale showed excellent reliability (α = 0.89-0.90) and reliabilities for both subscales were also good (α = 0.78-0.87). As predicted, children living in HIV/AIDS-affected households obtained significantly higher stigma-by-association scores than children in non-affected households [F(1, 693) = 46.53, p<0.001, partial η(2)=0.06] and hypothesized correlations between stigma-by-association, bullying, peer problems, depression and anxiety symptoms were observed. It is concluded that the brief stigma-by-association scale is a reliable and valid instrument for use with South African youth; however, further confirmatory research regarding the structure of the scale is required.
authors: Department of Social Policy and Intervention, Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, University of Oxford, UK. mark.boyes@spi.ox.ac.uk
authors: Mark E
authors: ME
authors: Boyes
authors: Sally J
authors: SJ
authors: Mason
authors: Lucie D
authors: LD
authors: Cluver
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011204:Poverty Areas; D011287:Prejudice; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D057545:Social Stigma; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult