Table IV.

Study 3 (Scale Validation): Confirmatory factor analysis of 17-item Anal Sex Stigma Scales (n = 788)

		Loadings (Uniqueness)
	Study 2 Items (Table III)	1	2	3
Self-stigma
I hate myself for feeling the way I do about anal sex.	#1		.79 (.37)
When I have anal sex, I feel like I’ve done something unhealthy.	#2		.78 (.39)
I may never let go of the shame I feel about anal sex.	#4		.74 (.45)	`
I often feel like nobody else shares my same issues about anal sex.	#3		.64 (.59)
I feel like I don’t know how to have anal sex properly.	#5		.59 (.65)
In my mind, anal sex is always dangerous, no matter how safe you think you are.	#12		.49 (.76)
Provider stigma
Health workers would treat me badly if they knew the ways I have anal sex.	#28	.81 (.35)
If they knew the ways I have anal sex, most health workers would shame or lecture me to stop.	#30	.79 (.37)
Health workers will try to scare me about anal sex.	#29	.77 (.41)
Health workers have ignored my concerns about anal health.	#21	.68 (.54)
I’ve been shamed or lectured about anal sex by a health worker.	#22	.61 (.63)
Omission of information
Most guys don’t understand how to ease into anal sex.	#39			.65 (.57)
Even if someone brought it up, most guys would hide their true feelings about anal sex.	#37			.65 (.57)
Most guys don’t know how to prepare themselves for bottoming.	#38			.58 (.66)
Experience tells me most people think anal sex is disgusting, even if they’ve never said it aloud.	#17			.56 (.69)
In my experience, people usually don’t like to talk very openly about anal sex.	#16			.55 (.70)
Most guys I’ve had sex with really didn’t know how to have anal sex properly.	#23			.55 (.69)

Correlations between provider and self-stigmas (.24), provider and omission stigmas (.25), and self- and omission stigmas (.29) all p < .001