Stigma and Psychological Distress in People With HIV/AIDS |
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| Authors: | Gregory M. Herek Sona Saha Jeffrey Burack |
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| Affiliation: | 1. University of California , Davis gmherek@ucdavis.edu;3. East Bay AIDS Research Institute and University of California , Berkeley;4. East Bay AIDS Center , University of California , Berkeley;5. University of California , San Francisco |
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| Abstract: | Using a community sample of 197 people living with HIV/AIDS, we examined how awareness of societal stigma (felt stigma) and negative feelings toward oneself as a member of a stigmatized group (self-stigma) are related to psychological well-being. Both felt stigma and self-stigma were significantly correlated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, but controlling for felt stigma reduced self-stigma's association with depressive symptoms to nonsignificance. Global self-esteem and social avoidance fully mediated the associations between self-stigma and distress but only partially mediated the associations between felt stigma and distress. Felt stigma mediated the relationship between distress and HIV-related changes in physical appearance. |
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