Construction and Validation of a Subjective Scale of Stigma and Discrimination (SISD) for the Gay Men and Transgender Women Population in Chile

Abstract

Recent studies in Chile provide encouraging data on the attitude of the Chilean society toward sexual minorities, although other studies reveal that new ways to express stigma and discrimination toward sexual minorities have emerged. The objective of this study was the construction and validation of a measure to describe and characterize stigma and discrimination toward the gay men and transgender women population in Chile. Two studies were conducted. In study 1, the initial version of a scale, consisting of 147 items, was constructed in a process involving three phases: (a) a theoretical phase, (b) a qualitative phase, and (c) a phase using the original version of our scale. This original version was administered to a non-probabilistic snowball-type sample of 100 gay men (pilot study). After several analyses, the items were selected for the abbreviated version of the scale (SISD). Thus, the scale finally contained 23 items in six dimensions. In study 2, the SISD was administered to a type of RDS for gay men and a non-probabilistic snowball-type sample for transgender women. This study included 437 subjects aged 18–75 years (M = 32.22, SD = 10.22), 325 gay men (74.4 %), and 112 transgender women (25.6 %). The reliability coefficient was 0.89 for the SISD. In addition, there were statistically significant differences in the SISD scores between gay men and transgender women (t (435) = −2.48, p < 0.05, d = 0.26). Moreover, statistically significant differences were found between gay men and transgender women in three dimensions of the scale: disadvantages in the presence of authorities (t (435) = −2.83, p < 0.005, d = 0.31); discrimination at work (t (435) = −3.78, p < 0.005, d = 0.40); and institutional exclusion (t (434) = −4.25, p < 0.001, d = 0.46). A high percentage of individuals from each group reported victimization and discrimination events due to their condition as gay men and transgender women. Therefore, the SISD is a reliable and valid instrument to measure stigma and discrimination toward the gay men and transgender women population in Chile.