Comprehensive Assessment of Mental Health Stigma

BACKGROUND: Mental health (MH) stigma is one of the main barriers to young people with MH problems seeking help. This study attempts to analyse it using the Stigma and Self-Stigma scales (SASS) in a representative sample of young people, novel aspects being the comprehensive perspective of the instrument used and the analysis of gender effects, both from a psychometric perspective (measurement invariance) and analysis of the differences according to the gender variable. METHOD: = 1.65; 61.6% women) participated, selected through a stratified random cluster sampling approach. The scale's internal structure and its measurement invariance between genders were examined. RESULTS: The five-factor model of the SASS showed adequate goodness-of-fit indices. Scalar invariance between genders was confirmed for the five-dimensional model, along with higher levels of stigma in several dimensions among boys. Cronbach's α for the different subscales ranged from .62 to .80, and McDonald's ω from .60 to .79. CONCLUSIONS: The SASS is a brief, simple, and reliable instrument for assessing different dimensions of MH stigma in university settings.