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The total 1999 sample included 666 respondents who were recontacted after participating in a similar 1997 survey as well as 669 new respondents. Some data from the 1999 interviews with the recontacted participants have been reported elsewhere (Herek, Capitanio, , and Widaman, , supra note 21). Respondents were included in the present analyses only if they identified themselves as heterosexual in a screening question. Because of missing data for some variables, the sample size for the correlation coefficients shown in Table 1 ranged from 1,197 to 1,258. For the regression analysis, the sample size was 1,185. Details about the sampling methods, response rates, interview procedures, and other aspects of the methodology, including the wording of individual items, are reported in Herek, Capitanio, , and Widaman, , supra note 21; Herek, G.M., “Gender Gaps in Public Opinion About Lesbians and Gay Men,” Public Opinion Quarterly, 66 (2002): 40–66; Herek, G.M., “Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Bisexual Men and Women in the United States,” Journal of Sex Research, 39 (2002): In press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

This index was computed by counting the number of stigmatizing responses each person gave to nine different items designed to measure various aspects of AIDS-related stigma. The items assessed the extent to which respondents felt angry, disgusted, and afraid of people with AIDS; would avoid interacting with a person with AIDS in an office; would have their child avoid an HIV-infected schoolmate; would refrain from shopping at a neighborhood grocery store whose owner had AIDS; supported quarantining people with AIDS; believed that the names of those with AIDS should be made public; and believed that those who were infected through sex or drug use got what they deserved. More information about this measure is reported in Herek, Capitanio, , and Widaman, , supra note 21.Google Scholar

The variables listed in Table 1 were derived from a series of exploratory analyses with a larger number of variables. The variables of marital status, number of children, race, and political party affiliation displayed negligible correlations with AIDS stigma and were dropped from the analysis. A “negligible” correlation was operationally defined as r <0.10 (i.e., the variable shared less than 1 percent of variance with the AIDS stigma index).Google Scholar

The coefficients can potentially range from −1.00 to +1.00, with values near zero indicating little or no association between the two variables and values near −1.00 or +1.00 indicating a strong association. The sign of the coefficient indicates the direction of the relationship. A positive coefficient means that as values of one variable increased, values of the other also increased; a negative coefficient means that as values of one variable increased, values of the other decreased.Google Scholar

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Like correlation coefficients, values for β can potentially range from −1.00 to +1.00, with values near zero indicating that the variable has little or no predictive power and values near −1.00 or +1.00 indicating that the variable helps to explain a substantial amount of variation in AIDS stigma scores. As with correlation coefficients, the sign of β (positive or negative) indicates the direction of the relationship (see note 54, supra).Google Scholar

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