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The Parents’ Self-Stigma Scale: Development, Factor Analysis, Reliability, and Validity

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Abstract

For parents of children with a mental health disorder, self-stigma can negatively impact their self-esteem and empowerment. Although measures of self-stigma exist, these have not been created in consultation with parents of children with a mental health disorder. Thus, the aim of this study was to construct a new scale based on parents’ experiences and developed in partnership with parents through participatory action research (PAR). Draft items that reflect parents’ self-stigmas were drawn from qualitative research. A PAR group further developed these items for conceptual and experiential representativeness, and wording suitability and interpretability. With data from 424 parents of children with a mental health disorder, factor analyses indicated three factors: self-blame, self-shame, and bad-parent self-beliefs. These factors were negatively correlated with self-esteem and empowerment. Internal consistencies were acceptable. In sum, parent self-stigma is best operationalised as including self-blame, self-shame, and bad-parent self-beliefs. A valid, PAR-informed measure is provided to promote consistent, authentic, and sensitive measurement of these components.

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Acknowledgements

We extend our sincerest gratitude to the parents, individuals, organisations, and groups who have contributed to and supported this research.

Funding

This research was funded by the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, and The University of Western Australia School of Psychological Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, M304, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia

    Kim Eaton, Jeneva L. Ohan & Werner G. K. Stritzke

  2. Lewis College of Human Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA

    Patrick W. Corrigan

  3. National Consortium on Stigma and Empowerment, Chicago, IL, USA

    Patrick W. Corrigan

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  1. Kim Eaton
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  2. Jeneva L. Ohan
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  3. Werner G. K. Stritzke
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  4. Patrick W. Corrigan
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Correspondence to Kim Eaton.

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This research was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of The University of Western Australia, Human Research Ethics Office.

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Eaton, K., Ohan, J.L., Stritzke, W.G.K. et al. The Parents’ Self-Stigma Scale: Development, Factor Analysis, Reliability, and Validity. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 50, 83–94 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-018-0822-8

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