IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i13p7179-d588515.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shame and STIs: An Exploration of Emerging Adult Students’ Felt Shame and Stigma towards Getting Tested for and Disclosing Sexually Transmitted Infections

Author

Listed:
  • Emily Scheinfeld

    (School of Communication and Media, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA)

Abstract

Emerging adulthood is identified as a time of identity exploration, during which emerging adults (EAs) may engage in sexual exploration and risky behaviors, potentially resulting in the contraction of a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Many EAs, do not disclose their status to partners or those who can provide social support, like parents. Nor do they often get tested. This may be due to the changing status of stigma surrounding STIs. This study examines traditional measures of the stigma/shame of STI diagnoses, treatment, and testing, and their relevance alongside both increased opportunities for casual sex and not only heightened education surrounding STIs, but also heightened prevalence of STIs in the U.S. Results show EAs perceived that if their community found out they got tested, they would likely be treated differently. They also felt they would be uncomfortable disclosing an STI to parents as well as to sexual partners. However, disclosing to a monogamous partner yielded less felt shame and stigma by EAs. Lastly, stigma/shame was associated with STI communication, as well as with overall perception of STI knowledge, and getting tested. Further explanation of the results and possible implications of this study are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily Scheinfeld, 2021. "Shame and STIs: An Exploration of Emerging Adult Students’ Felt Shame and Stigma towards Getting Tested for and Disclosing Sexually Transmitted Infections," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:13:p:7179-:d:588515
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7179/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/13/7179/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fortenberry, J.D. & McFarlane, M. & Bleakley, A. & Bull, S. & Fishbein, M. & Grimley, D.M. & Malotte, C.K. & Stoner, B.P., 2002. "Relationships of stigma and shame to gonorrhea and HIV screening," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(3), pages 378-381.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emily Scheinfeld, 2023. "The Role of Shame, Stigma, and Family Communication Patterns in the Decision to Disclose STIs to Parents in Order to Seek Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-12, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dean A. Shepherd & Holger Patzelt, 2015. "Harsh Evaluations of Entrepreneurs Who Fail: The Role of Sexual Orientation, Use of Environmentally Friendly Technologies, and Observers' Perspective Taking," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 253-284, March.
    2. Emily Scheinfeld, 2023. "The Role of Shame, Stigma, and Family Communication Patterns in the Decision to Disclose STIs to Parents in Order to Seek Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-12, March.
    3. Marija Pantelic & Mark Boyes & Lucie Cluver & Mildred Thabeng, 2018. "‘They Say HIV is a Punishment from God or from Ancestors’: Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Assessment of an HIV Stigma Scale for South African Adolescents Living with HIV (ALHIV-SS)," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(1), pages 207-223, February.
    4. Hao Li & Ling Zheng & Hong Le & Lijun Zhuo & Qian Wu & Guoqing Ma & Hongbing Tao, 2020. "The Mediating Role of Internalized Stigma and Shame on the Relationship between COVID-19 Related Discrimination and Mental Health Outcomes among Back-to-School Students in Wuhan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Arimoto, Yutaka & Hori, Narumi & Ito, Seiro & Kudo, Yuya & Tsukada, Kazunari, 2016. "Impacts of an HIV counseling and testing initiative -- results from an experimental intervention in a large firm in South Africa," IDE Discussion Papers 597, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    6. Maria H Lindberg & Lena Wettergren & Maria Wiklander & Veronica Svedhem-Johansson & Lars E Eriksson, 2014. "Psychometric Evaluation of the HIV Stigma Scale in a Swedish Context," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-16, December.
    7. Berger, Magdalena & Wagner, Todd H. & Baker, Laurence C., 2005. "Internet use and stigmatized illness," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1821-1827, October.
    8. Jiannan Li & Wenqi Liang & Bocong Yuan & Guojun Zeng, 2020. "Internalized Stigmatization, Social Support, and Individual Mental Health Problems in the Public Health Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-14, June.
    9. Hisashi Eguchi & Koji Wada & Derek R Smith, 2014. "Sociodemographic Factors and Prejudice toward HIV and Hepatitis B/C Status in a Working-Age Population: Results from a National, Cross-Sectional Study in Japan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-7, May.
    10. Maman, Suzanne & Abler, Laurie & Parker, Lisa & Lane, Tim & Chirowodza, Admire & Ntogwisangu, Jacob & Srirak, Namtip & Modiba, Precious & Murima, Oliver & Fritz, Katherine, 2009. "A comparison of HIV stigma and discrimination in five international sites: The influence of care and treatment resources in high prevalence settings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2271-2278, June.
    11. Arimoto, Yutaka & Hori, Narumi & Ito, Seiro & Kudo, Yuya & Tsukada, Kazunari, 2012. "Impacts of an HIV Counselling and Testing Initiative: Results from an Experimental Intervention in South Africa," CEI Working Paper Series 2011-13, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    12. Cort, David A. & Tu, Hsin Fei, 2018. "Safety in stigmatizing? Instrumental stigma beliefs and protective sexual behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 144-152.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:13:p:7179-:d:588515. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.