Table 2.

Reece Stigma Scale of Item Endorsement by Sample

Item	Number (proportion) reporting sometimes, often, or always	Principal Component Analysis Eigenvalue
Felt having HIV was a punishment for things I had done in the past	65 (32.2%)	0.345
Felt that people were avoiding me because of my HIV status	48 (23.8%)	0.799
Feared that I would lose my friends if they learned about my HIV status	85 (42.3%)	0.657
Felt like people that I know were treating me differently because of my HIV status	63 (31.3%)	0.800
Felt like people looked down on me because I have HIV	64 (31.8%)	0.698
Avoided dating because most people don’t want a relationship with someone with HIV	115 (58.0%)	0.453
Avoided a situation because I was worried about people knowing I have HIV	109 (54.0%)	0.653
Was embarrassed about having HIV	102 (50.5%)	0.679
Felt that keeping my HIV status secret was important	157 (77.8%)	0.557