Development of Social Stigma Scale in Indian Context

Stigma is a strong negative perception of other person or other group, about their physical as well as social characteristics. The stigmatized groups are discriminated against, oppressed, and treated inhumanly for their condition. Although such groups exist in most societies, stigmatization differs across cultures. The paper conceptualizes stigma, identifies its various dimensions, and describes the development of the social stigma scale to measure experiences and perception of stigmatized persons. Unstructured interviews with ten people were conducted, at least one from the six stigmatized groups: eunuchs, beggars, disabled, widows, poor, and leprosy patients to identify salient features of stigma. Content analysis of the unstructured interviews led to identify stigma’s dimensions: marginalization, exclusion, ritualistic inclusion, dehumanization, (i.e. humiliation, atrocity, and exploitation), and identity. Each dimension was operationalized facilitating items (statements) writing and final selection of 30-items for the social stigma scale (SSS). The social stigma scale was administered to 328 participants in the six stigmatized groups to standardize the scale and determine reliability and validity. The internal consistency (Cronbach alpha) of each dimension was computed. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was determined to establish the scale’s construct validity. The Cronbach alpha (α) values, CFA, and intercorrelations suggest conceptual convergence of stigma dimensions and confirmation of essential criteria of the social stigma scale in the Indian context.