Development and validation of a brief version of the Stigmatizing Situations Inventory

Abstract

Objective: The Stigmatizing Situations Inventory (SSI) is one of the most commonly used measures of weight stigma experiences but may be impractical for some researchers because of its length (50 items). The present report describes the development and validation of a brief version of the SSI that could be used as a more efficient tool for assessing experiences with weight stigma.

Methods: In stage 1, data from three existing studies (total n = 257) were used to create two 10-item versions of the SSI. One version was primarily based on items that showed the highest item-total correlations, and the second version maintained the content coverage of the original measure by including one item (the one with the highest item-total correlation) from each of 10 subscales of the SSI. Stage 1 also provided a test of the convergent validity of these brief measures. In stage 2, four new samples (total n = 832) provided an independent test of the reliability and validity of the brief measures.

Results: The brief SSIs showed good reliability across all samples. Furthermore, the magnitude of the correlations between the brief versions of the SSI and other associated constructs was comparable with the magnitude of the correlations between those constructs and the full SSI.

Conclusions: The brief versions of the SSI are reliable and valid measures of stigmatizing experiences that provide a more efficient means of capturing stigma experiences without sacrificing the reliability and validity of the original measure.

Keywords: Stigmatizing Situations Inventory; Weight stigma; short form; validation.