Browsing by Subject "Stigma"
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Item Impact of culture on stigma related to help-seeking behavior in college students(2015-05) Halvorson, Matthew Delayne; McCarthy, Christopher J.; Cokley, KevinThough many college students in the United States experience distress that could be ameliorated through counseling, not everyone is willing to seek help. Some estimates report that only 11% of those who have a diagnosable problem in a given year seek professional services (Vogel, Wade, & Hackler, 2007). This suggests that a barrier exists preventing individuals who could benefit from seeking help from doing so. Stigma is an umbrella term used to describe the negative social implications, such as those associated with mental illness, that serve as a barrier between student need and contact with services. The gravity of stigma was validated in the 1999 surgeon general's report on mental health that identified that the fear of stigma deterred individuals from being aware of their illness, seeking subsequent help, and remaining in treatment (http:// www.mentalhealthcommission.gov; Satcher, 1999). Stigma against help-seeking is a result of many different factors including, but not limited to, culture, societal influences, formal versus informal help-seeking, and gender norms. Understanding that it is not feasible to adequately address each of the previous factors, this report reviews stigma related to help-seeking across cultures and aims to discuss how different cultural values can influence an individual's willingness to seek formal help. Strategies for intervention and stigma reduction are also discussed.Item The influence of stigma of mental illnesses on decoding and encodting of verbal and nonverbal messages(2013-05) Imai, Tatsuya; Dailey, René M.Stigmas associated with depression and schizophrenia have been found to negatively impact the communication those with mental illness have with others in face-to-face interactions (e.g., Lysaker, Roe, & Yanos, 2007; Nicholson & Sacco, 1999). This study attempted to specifically examine how stigma affects cognitions, emotions, and behaviors of interactants without a mental illness toward those with a mental illness in online interactions. In this experimental study, 412 participants interacted with a hypothetical target on Facebook, who was believed to have depression, schizophrenia, or a cavity (i.e., the control group). They were asked to read a profile of the target on Facebook, respond to a message from the target, and complete measurements assessing perceived positive and negative face threats in the target's message, perceived facial expressions of the target, induced affect, predicted outcome value, and rejecting attitudes towards the target. Results revealed that the target labeled as schizophrenic was rejected more and perceived to have lower outcome value than the target without a mental illness or labeled as depressive. However, there were no significant differences in any outcomes between the depression and control groups. The mixed results were discussed in relation to methodological limitations and possible modifications of previous theoretical arguments. Theoretical and practical contributions were considered and suggestions for future research were offered.Item Predicting parents' intentions to support their adult children's stigmatized romantic relationships(2011-12) Boelter, Jill Marie; Loving, Timothy J.; Gleason, Marci; Kim, Su Yeong; Lehmiller, Justin; Neff, Lisa; Priem, JenniferSome romantic relationship types have a greater likelihood of receiving parental support than do others. Specifically, adults in traditional romantic relationships (i.e., same-race, opposite-sex) perceive more parental support for their relationships than do individuals in socially stigmatized relationships (e.g., interracial, same-sex relationships; Lehmiller & Agnew, 2006). The goal of the current study was to understand better what motivates parents to provide support for their adult children’s romantic relationships. To address this question, the original and a modified version of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1975) were tested. The TRA was implemented to measure whether parents’ attitudes toward showing support and the parents’ subjective norms were associated with the parents’ intentions to provide support for their children’s relationships in the future. In the modified model, subjective norms was reconceptualized to include parents’ perceptions of stigma by associating with their children’s relationships and the perceived threat of sanctions from the parent’s social networks if the parents were to provide support for their children’s relationships in the future. To improve predictive ability of the models, theoretically relevant covariates were included in each model. To capitalize on a variety of viewpoints, this study included parents whose children were either single or in dating relationships. Parents whose child was single completed the questionnaire while imagining his or her child in a traditional, interracial, or same-sex relationship whereas parents whose child was in a dating relationship reported on his or her child’s current relationship. A sample of 438 parents completed an online survey. Overall, across all groups, parents’ attitudes toward providing support were consistently associated with parents’ intentions to provide support. Associations between the parents’ subjective norms and intentions to provide support varied across groups and were not always significantly associated with parents’ intentions to provide support in the future. Furthermore, parents’ motivations to provide support differed among parents who imagined their children in relationships compared to parents whose children were in real relationships, suggesting parents may overestimate problems with their children’s interracial and same-sex relationships and underestimate problems with their children’s traditional relationships than may occur in real-life situations.Item Stigma : the negatives of being HIV positive(2010-12) Burke, Christina Michelle; Darling, Dennis Carlyle; Reed, EliThis report addresses the issue of stigma surrounding people living with the human immunodeficiency virus and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or HIV/AIDS. It examines the relationship between the disease and a person’s willingness to seek treatment and how an HIV diagnosis affects self-acceptance, family relationships, friendships and well being of people living with HIV/AIDS. In many cases the self-imposed stigma is just as menacing as external stigma. The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS affects every class, color and creed. It is a public health crisis that quietly infects new victims daily. In the thirty years since its discovery there is still no known cure. The passage of the Ryan White act was the federal government’s first official response to the issue. While the disease is manageable for many who can afford expensive anti-retroviral medication, the side effects and psychological turmoil they face is oftentimes unbearable. This report, and the accompanying video, Stigma, which can be found at http://christinaburkephoto.blogspot.com/ examines the social and psychological effects on people living with HIV/AIDS.Item The generation and effects of a stigma in small groups: a formal theory and test(2009-05-15) Compton, D'Lane RebeccaDrawing from the vast literature on stigmas, theories of status generalizations and affect, this study employs a formal framework to delineate among different kinds of stigmas and different processes by which they might operate. This study then considers the case of a particular type of stigma, a behavioral stigma, a label that is obtained from past behavior. The formalization distinguishes how knowledge of a particular type of stigma operates through group members who then cast an ?other? into a stigmatized role with special attention to affect and behavior of the stigmatized individual and the other group members. Additionally, I am able to study the developmental process of stigma because, in the particular theoretical case I consider, the stigmatized individual is initially unaware of the stigma. The findings indicate that stigma were created and did have an effect on individuals and groups. While the observable power and prestige effects were much more pronounced for measures of content versus measures of amount of interaction stigmatized groups were characterized by more disapproval, fewer agreements and more interruptions than were nonstigmatized groups. Further, those who were stigmatized had less influence than other group members. In terms of feelings, there was support for the hypotheses suggesting that stigmatized individuals rate both themselves and their groups more negatively than do nonstigmatized group members. Also, those who were not stigmatized rated the stigmatized person more negatively than others. While there were no significant differences between Stigmatized and Control groups relative to happiness or group cohesion and efficiency, those in the Control groups were more committed to their groups than were those in the Stigmatized groups. This study contributes to the large literature on stigma by examining one kind of stigma. It also contributes to several established literatures in social psychological theory. This study has implications for the power of the social construction of stigma and consequently for the power of social construction in the dismantling of stigma.