Although AIDS stigma has been widely studied in developing countries
where the prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection is high, less is known about
how people living in countries where HIV-infected people are scarce
perceive and manifest AIDS stigma in their society. To fill this gap, this
study tested a comprehensive model that explicates the influence of AIDS
knowledge gap on personal and attributed stigma among people living in
Korea. The study considered fear of contagion as a mediator between AIDS
knowledge gap and AIDS stigma. With the data (N = 745) collected to
evaluate the impact of 2008 Korean AIDS campaign, a structural equation
model was utilized to test the hypothesized relationships between AIDS
knowledge gap, fear of contagion, personal stigma, and attributed stigma.
The findings indicate that AIDS knowledge is negatively associated with
fear of contagion and personal stigma. Fear of contagion is also negatively
associated with both personal and attributed stigma. Sex and age
significantly predicted fear of contagion and education level was positively
associated with AIDS knowledge and personal stigma.