Although much research has been carried out with regard to those who stigmatise, little has been conducted from the standpoint ofthose exposed to stigmatisation. With the aid of questionnaire measures, the present study aimed to look at stigma from the prospective of participants who believed that they had a stigmatising mark (a temporary facial scar), which in some cases was removed surreptitiously prior to a social interaction with a confederate. While several hypotheses were explored, none were supported fully. Nevertheless, several elements pertaining to stigma produced significant results, suggesting that participants who believed that they had scars not only found their own appearance to be stigmatising, they also thought that the people they interacted with found their appearance to be stigmatising. Secondly, there were gender differences with regard to feeling of stigmatisation, males who believed that they had stigmatising marks reported feeling more stigmatised than their female counterparts, a result that was contrary to what had been hypothesised. Finally, there was evidence to suggest that participants with higher trait anxiety scores rated some images of disfigurement images as more anxiety provoking and more stigmatising than those who rated themselves as less anxious. Although it was hypothesised that felt stigma would be experienced by participants in both the scar and the scar removed conditions, no evidence was provided to support this. It is possible however that the type of stigma reported by participants in the present study may have been a precursor to felt stigma, but further research is needed to explore any possible links.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:491156 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Easthope-Mowatt, Yvette |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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