Adaptation of the Devaluation-Discrimination Scale Into Turkish: A Comprehensive Psychometric Analysis

Abstract

The Devaluation-Discrimination Scale (DDS) is among the most frequently used stigma scales for measuring the perception of social stigma related to mental illness. The DDS is also frequently employed to test predictions of modified labeling theory and is modified to use for specific disorders, such as depression, substance abuse, and alcohol use disorders. Although modified versions of the DDS have been subjected to psychometric analyses, the original has never undergone a full psychometric evaluation. Thus, the aim of this study was to comprehensively examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish adaptation of the original DDS, with all positively keyed items, across seven studies in Turkish student and community samples (N = 1,907). The results of the exploratory factor analysis indicated that a one-dimensional factor structure adequately explained the covariation among DDS items in a sample of college students. Moreover, the single-factor structure of the DDS was corroborated, and invariant across sex, age, educational level, mental health diagnosis status, and previous help-seeking experience among Turkish adults. The convergent and divergent validity of DDS scores also were supported by significant correlations in the hypothesized directions with self-stigma (r = .26), social stigma (r = .46), attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help (r = -.24), and intention to seek psychological help scores (r = -.24). The results of the reliability analyses suggested that the DDS has good temporal stability in a 1-month time interval (r = .83, intraclass correlation coefficient = .83) and possesses high to excellent internal consistency reliabilities ranging from .88 to .92 across five studies. The examination of the distribution of total DDS scores indicated that there were no floor and ceiling effects in DDS scores across five different samples. The Turkish adaptation of the original DDS may be used as a valid and reliable scale to measure the devaluation and discrimination perceptions of college students and adults against people with mental illness.