Associative Stigma: Perceptions of the Difficulties of College-Aged Children of Stigmatized Fathers

In this study 120 male and female subjects made judgments about a hypothetical roommate of the same gender whose father is described as being marked by one of five possible problems. For a sixth group, intended as a control, the father was described as having a job that took him away from home 2 weeks of every month. Using a Likert-type scale, the functioning of the hypothetical roommate was judged in four areas of life: school, friends, career, and family. The results indicate that school and family were the two areas of life judged to be most affected by the father's problem. People who have a depressed, alcoholic, or incarcerated father were perceived as having more difficulty than those who have a father who is old, frequently absent, or who has only one leg, with the area of life most affected differing as a function of the father's problem. These findings support the associative stigma construct and suggest that stigma may be passed on from stigmatized people to members of their social network.