This three-item scale measures how similar a person considers patients with a particular health problem to be to themselves. Wang, Wang, and Jiang (2023) used it with U.S. MTurk participants in Studies 4 and 5 of research on framing charitable giving as a gift. The authors borrowed key words from a three-item scale by Kim, Zhang, and Li (2008).
7-point Likert (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree); items reverse-coded so higher scores mean greater social distance
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Alphas were .91 (Study 4) and .87 (Study 5) (Wang, Wang, and Jiang 2023, pp. 139, 140). Validity was not discussed. Fill each blank with the name of the health problem (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, lung cancer, COVID). The items express closeness, so the authors reverse-coded them so that higher scores indicate greater social distance from the patients. See also Need for Status (ID 90459), from the same article, and Social Distance from Others in the Task (ID 90551).
Wang, Phyllis Xue, Yijie Wang, and Yuwei Jiang (2023), "Gift or Donation? Increase the Effectiveness of Charitable Solicitation Through Framing Charitable Giving as a Gift," Journal of Marketing, 87 (1), 133-147.
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