title: A measure of perceived family stigma: Validity in a military sample.
abstract: The primary aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the newly developed Perceived Family Stigma Scale (PFSS) in a diverse sample of 623 military veterans. The PFSS is a 4-item scale that has acceptable internal consistency (α = .86) and strong interitem correlations (r = .51 to .76). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated the single factor model was a good fit statistically (χ2[df = 2, N = 620] = .34, p = .84) and descriptively (CFI = 1.00, RMSEA < .001). Multigroup CFA was performed to test the measurement invariance of the PFSS across demographic indicators. The PFSS achieved full scalar invariance across deployment history, education level, urban/rural location, marital status, and military rank, and partial scalar invariance across gender, ethnicity/race, and income level. Results of a logistic regression analysis indicated significant relationships of mean PFSS scores and gender with likelihood of needing help for an emotional problem, above and beyond a measure of self- and public stigma. Specifically, each point increase in mean PFSS scores predicted an almost 4 times higher probability of reporting a need for help, and men were also 6 times more likely than women to report a need for help. However, there was a significant relationship between the PFSS and gender such that, for women, each 1 point increase in mean PFSS scores predicted a likelihood of reporting a need/desire for help for an emotional problem 3 times that of men. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota.
authors.forename: Anne Q
authors.initials: AQ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Clinical Informatics Service, VA Pacific Islands Health Care System.
authors.forename: Julia M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2876-6783
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Whealin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota.
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota.
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057545:Social Stigma; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*