Factors associated with perceived stigma for alcohol use and treatment among at-risk drinkers

Abstract

This study examined the perceived public stigma for alcohol use and treatment among a sample of 733 at-risk drinkers living in the South. Substantial levels of perceived stigma were reported for the community's judgment about at-risk drinking (86.1%), community's judgment about seeking primary care treatment for alcohol disorders (48.9%), community's judgment about seeking specialty treatment (56.3%), and primary care providers' judgment about their patients who were at-risk drinkers (35.7%). Similarly, respondents perceived a substantial lack of privacy associated with primary care treatment (42.0%) and specialty treatment (45.2%). African Americans were more likely to perceive a lack of treatment privacy but they were less likely to perceive community judgment about seeking specialty treatment. Those with greater social network contact intensity were more likely to perceive community judgment about at-risk drinking and more likely to perceive a lack of treatment privacy. Rural at-risk drinkers were more likely to perceive a lack of privacy in primary care.