The categories of perceived stigma, experienced stigma, and self-stigma have been used to group stigma measures pertinent to the perspective of stigmatized persons (Brohan et al. 2010). Briefly, perceived stigma is the awareness of public stigma. Experienced stigma involves actual occurrences of discrimination attributed to a stigmatized condition. Self-stigma is a process where the negative evaluations associated with public stigma are incorporated into one’s sense of self. Instruments are also available that measure stigma from the perspective of the general public (e.g. attribution and social distance scales; see Link et al. 2004; Brown 2011). Measures of structural (contextual) stigma often utilize policy data or qualitative analysis (Link et al. 2004; Hatzenbuehler et al. 2011).
