People at high risk of contagion of COVID-19 may experience stigma.
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Stigma may concern perceived courtesy and/or affiliate stigma.
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Three distinct profiles of stigma were identified.
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Risk factors were measured at the interface of individuals and the community.
Abstract
Rationale
COVID-19 is likely to be stigmatized. The people of Hubei province perceived courtesy and affiliate stigma due to the geographic linkage to COVID-19. Perceived courtesy stigma refers to the perception of stigma of people who are associated with COVID-19 (e.g., the geographic linkage). Affiliate stigma is the internalization and psychological responses of perceived courtesy stigma among the associates.
Objective
The current study aims to reveal different patterns of perceived courtesy and affiliate stigma among people who are at high risk of contagion of COVID-19, and to examine the possible risk factors.
Method
A sample including 2813 adults who located in Hubei Province, China (female: n = 2,184, 77.64%; male: n = 629, 22.36%; mean age = 37.85 years, SD = 6.61 years, range = 18–63 years) were employed in the current study, using latent profile analysis for searching stigma profiles.
Results
Three profiles of stigma were found: the “Denier” (35.98%), “Confused moderate” (48.13%) and “Perceiver” (15.89%) displaying the low, moderate and high level of perceived courtesy and affiliate stigma, respectively. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that generally people with a high level of education, perceived threats, anxiety symptoms, and familiarity with quarantined cases have a high likelihood to be distributed into the “Perceiver”.
Discussion and Conclusions
Our findings highlight the issues of COVID-19-related stigma and provide evidence for launching effective health actions to promote a cohesive society and culture of health. The media can transmit scientific knowledge, promote positive interactions and social cohesion between the stigmatized group and the dominant group, and create spaces for stories that nurture group identification among the implicated people. Future studies should use more representative sample and improve the measures.
