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Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Stigma Scale

The Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Stigma Scale is a 20-item instrument designed to assess perceived stigma around different dimensions of adolescent SRH and family planning (sex, contraception, pregnancy, child-bearing, abortion) among young women. The scale contains three subscales: internalized stigma (6 items), enacted stigma (7 items), and stigmatizing lay attitudes (7 items).

Categories

Geographies Tested: Ghana

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adolescents, Adults

Items:

Enacted Stigma
1.People behave differently toward a teen whom they know has had sex
2.People behave differently toward a teen whom they know has had an abortion
3.People behave differently toward a teen whom they know has used modern family-planning methods
4.Having sex as a teen often leads to getting beaten or physically hurt by one’s parents
5.Becoming pregnant and having a baby as a teen would cause people to behave differently around me
6.Becoming pregnant and having a baby as a teen would cause others to tease, insult, swear, or gossip about me

Internalized Stigma
7.Having sex as a teen is a form of disobedience
8.Young women who have abortions are bad girls
9.Young women who use modern family planning are promiscuous
10.Teens who use modern family planning are viewed as bad girls
11.Having sex as a teen brings disgrace and shame to a young woman and her family
12.Becoming pregnant and having a baby as a teen would bring disgrace to my family
13.Becoming pregnant and having a baby as a teen would make me feel ashamed and bad about myself

Stigmatizing Lay Attitudes
14.Young women who have abortions will encourage others to have abortions
15.Modern family planning is not acceptable for unmarried women
16.Modern family-planning methods have bad effects on a woman’s health
17.Having an abortion is committing murder
18.The media, including the television, Internet, or magazines, has a strong impact on teens’ sexual behavior
19.When teens have sex for the first time, it is usually because they were pressured by their friends or partners to do so
20.Children born to teen parents are worse off than those born to adults

Response Options:
Agree - 1
Neutral - 0
Disagree - 0

Scoring Procedures

Items are summed to create a total scale score ranging from 0-20 possible points. Higher scores mean higher perceived stigma.

Original Citation

Hall, K. S., Manu, A., Morhe, E., Harris, L. H., Loll, D., Ela, E., Kolenic, G., Dozier, J. L., Challa, S., Zochowski, M. K., Boakye, A., Adanu, R., & Dalton, V. K. (2018). Development and validation of a scale to measure adolescent sexual and reproductive health stigma: Results from young women in Ghana. Journal of Sex Research, 55(1), 60-72. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1292493


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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