Browsing by Subject "Stigma."
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Item Cultural and religious factors on mental health perceptions and attitudes among Indian Orthodox Christians in the United States.(2014-09-05) Varghese, Miriam S.; Benedict, Helen Elizabeth, 1946-; Psychology and Neuroscience.; Baylor University. Dept. of Psychology and Neuroscience.Culture and religion play a significant role in the development and maintenance of mental health stigma. They influence beliefs about the causes of mental illness and also impact willingness to seek treatment. In the United States, little is known about the psychological adjustment of South Asians, particularly Indian immigrants and first generation Indian American Christians. In this study, I investigated the effect of acculturation, ethnic identity, and religious commitment on stigma, etiological beliefs about common childhood and adolescent psychological disorders (attention deficit- hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, anxiety, alcohol abuse, and autism), and help-seeking attitudes in the Indian Orthodox population. Forty-six Indian immigrants and 64 first generation Indian Americans completed electronic or paper questionnaires assessing their level of acculturation, ethnic identity, and religious commitment. Participants also completed measures on stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and causal beliefs (biological, psychosocial, and spiritual). The results showed that religious commitment was negatively associated with stigma and positively associated with help-seeking attitudes. Participants who rated high on acculturation endorsed biological underpinning for ADHD, autism, depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse. Previous knowledge of mental illness was linked to fewer ratings of spiritual causes for ADHD, autism and depression, but religious commitment was associated with increased ratings of spiritual causes for alcohol abuse.Item Self, stigma, and identity work in the Pentecostal experience of illness.(2014-09-05) Isaacs, Shelly A.; Park, Jerry Z.; Sociology.; Baylor University. Dept. of Sociology.I examine the religious behaviors and interactions of ill Pentecostals and charismatics as they engage with a religious group and belief system that teaches that God wants to heal all believers in this life. I use the Baylor Religion Survey (2010) to model OLS regressions of how attendance and prayer are affected by the experience of illness and Pentecostalism, and I also analyze 18 interviews with ill Pentecostals for themes of private and public religious interactions. I find that being both ill and Pentecostal has a negative effect on church attendance compared with no effect on attendance for other ill persons. However, ill persons and Pentecostals both pray more often. My interview data suggest that while Pentecostals engage in accepting internal interaction rituals like prayer, their external interactions may be characterized by challenges to moral status that provide limited opportunities for acceptance of a personal identity characterized by illness.