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Assessment of Stigma Towards Homosexuality in China: A Study of Men Who Have Sex with Men

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Abstract

Previous research has documented the deleterious impact of homosexuality stigma on HIV sexual risk behavior among men who have sex with men (MSM) and the vulnerability of this group in China for HIV acquisition. Factor analysis of 10 survey items from 477 MSM from Shanghai yielded two factors: Perceived stigma assessed participants’ impressions of the degree of societal stigmatization of homosexuals whereas enacted stigma measured direct personal experiences of stigmatizing behaviors. Enacted stigma exhibited satisfactory internal reliability and was associated with HIV sexual risk behavior. Further research is needed to refine perceived and other stigma constructs for Chinese MSM.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by NIH/Fogarty D43 TW00003-13S1 and the Japanese Foundation for AIDS Prevention. Dr. Neilands was supported by a Center grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (P30 MH62246-05). During the course of article preparation, the authors received helpful comments and suggestions for improvement from Nelson Varas Diaz, Tri Do, David Huebner, and Starley Shade. We are also grateful to the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that lead to an improved version of this article.

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  1. Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), 50 Beale St., Suite 1300, San Francisco, CA, 94105, USA

    Torsten B. Neilands, Wayne T. Steward & Kyung-Hee Choi

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  1. Torsten B. Neilands
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  2. Wayne T. Steward
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  3. Kyung-Hee Choi
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Correspondence to Torsten B. Neilands.

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Neilands, T.B., Steward, W.T. & Choi, KH. Assessment of Stigma Towards Homosexuality in China: A Study of Men Who Have Sex with Men. Arch Sex Behav 37, 838–844 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9305-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9305-x

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