Perceived Suicide Stigma and Associated Factors in Chinese College Students: Translation and Validation of the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Scale and the Stigma of Suicide and Suicide Survivors Scale

Yang Wu, Zhenzhen Chen, Philip J. Batterham and Jin Han
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Yang Wu: School of Marxism, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Zhenzhen Chen: College of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Philip J. Batterham: Centre for Mental Health Research, The Australian National University, Canberra 2601, Australia
Jin Han: Black Dog Institute, The University of New South Wales, Sydney 2031, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: This study aims to translate and validate two perceived suicide stigma scales, including the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Scale (STOSA) and the Stigma of Suicide and Suicide Survivor Scale (STOSASS) into Chinese language, examining the factor structure, and assessing the correlation between suicide stigma and a series of variables. After translating and back translating the STOSA and STOSASS, an online survey was administrated to 412 college students in China. These two scales were tested for their dimensionality in a series of confirmatory factor analyses. A series of regression analyses were conducted to examine the factors that are associated with perceived and public suicide stigma, including demographics, psychological distress, suicidality, suicide exposure, and perceived entitativity of suicide ideators, decedents, and survivors. The results showed that the two translated scales, STOSA and STOSASS, were reliable (Cronbach’s ? = 0.79~0.83) and valid in Chinese contexts and it can be treated as unidimensional scales. Suicidality, exposure to suicide, and perceived entitativity of suicide-related persons were significantly associated with higher endorsement of public suicide stigma (SOSS Stigma, p < 0.03), but not perceived stigma (STOSA, STOSASS). Higher levels of psychological distress were associated with both higher perceived and public suicide stigma ( p < 0.05).

Keywords: perceived suicide stigma; STOSA; STOSASS; SOSS; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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