Assessing Enacted Sexual Stigma toward Gay and Bisexual Men in the Military: The Enacted Sexual Stigma Experiences Scale in Military Service

Chung-Ying Lin, Yu-Ping Chang, Wen-Jiun Chou () and Cheng-Fang Yen ()
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Chung-Ying Lin: Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Yu-Ping Chang: School of Nursing, The State University of New York, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
Wen-Jiun Chou: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical Center, Kaohsiung 83301, Taiwan
Cheng-Fang Yen: Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 80708, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: Gay and bisexual military servicemembers experience disproportionately high rates of victimization due to enacted sexual stigma (ESS). This study formulated a new scale, called the Enacted Sexual Stigma Experiences Scale in Military Service (ESSESiMS) for gay and bisexual servicemembers, and examined its psychometric propensities. The five-item ESSESiMS was first developed based on the results of focus group interviews with 12 participants. A total of 399 gay and bisexual men who have experience of the military service participated in the study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was implemented to determine the factor structure of the ESSESiMS; the internal consistency and concurrent validity of the ESSESiMS was also examined. The EFA results indicate that the ESSESiMS should have a single-item structure. The ESSESiMS exhibited acceptable internal consistency and concurrent validity. Incidents of ESS in the ESSESiMS were significantly associated with perceived sexual stigma outside the military service and with higher levels of depression, loneliness, and suicidal ideation. The results of our study supported the psychometric properties of the newly developed ESSESiMS for assessing the experiences of ESS among gay and bisexual servicemembers in Taiwan. Experiences of ESS toward gay and bisexual servicemembers were common; ESS was significantly associated with adverse mental health outcomes.

Keywords: bisexual; gay; instrument; military; psychological well-being; stigma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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