Digital Commons Network^™

Individual’S Self Awareness Of Mental Illness: The Effects On Implicit Bias, Microaggressions, And Racial Discrimination, Sarah Zoubaa

Student Theses

The purpose of the current study is to understand the factors that impact how persons experiencing subclinical psychological symptoms or an undiagnosed but clinically significant psychological problem perceive individuals who been diagnosed with mental illness. Previous literature has investigated the experiences of discrimination among those with mental health problems, but not their attitudes and behavior towards individuals among their in-group. It was hypothesized that individuals with an emerging mental health problem will have higher rates of implicit bias and perpetrate more microaggressions towards those with a mental illness in order to remove themselves from a group that is associated with …

Stigma As A Predictor Af Parental Willingness To Seek Mental Health Services For Their Children In Rural America, Reed M. Smith

ELAIA

Stigma exists in some capacity towards mental illness. This stigma is a barrier to mental health services for some people. Rural populations are known to have more stigma than their urban counterparts. This is on top of already lacking access to mental health services. This especially affects children. Polaha and Williams (2015) found stigma to be negatively correlated with willingness to seek help in rural parents. This study sought to explore this relationship in a more generalized sample. I posted a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk that screened for rural parents of children under the age of eighteen. It included …

Perceptions Of Confidentiality And Stigma Associated With Use Of Counseling Services, Jesi Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Counseling services are offered in most universities, but are often underutilized. Past researchers found that students listed time, cost, stigma, and confidentiality concerns as their top reasons for avoiding seeking help (e.g., Clement et al., 2015; Dearing, Maddux, and Tangney, 2005). The purpose of this study was to identify whether concerns about confidentiality affect stigma related to use of mental health services. Students answered questions about perceived stigma and the reasons they have avoided seeking counseling in the past. Those who had previously used services reported fewer confidentiality concerns. In a stepwise multiple regression, concerns about confidentiality were found to …

Mental Health Stigma And Help-Seeking In A College Sample: Barriers And Potential Motivators For Action, Christina H. Morris

Honors College Theses

Stigma surrounding mental health is one of many barriers impeding help-seeking behavior. This study had two aims: (1) to examine the relationships between mental wellbeing, internalized stigma, help-seeking attitudes, and demographic variables such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and marital status, and (2) to explore what hinders students in the help-seeking process and determine what would make students more likely to seek psychological help if they perceive a need for it. It was hypothesized that the relationship between internalized stigma and help-seeking attitudes would be moderated by gender, and the relationship between mental wellbeing and help-seeking attitudes would be mediated …

The Relationship Between Masculinity And Stigma: Predicting Help-Seeking Behaviors In Men, Bethany G. Johnson

Honors College Theses

Men tend to not seek help for mental health reasons, even when they express significant symptomology. Men’s barriers to help seeking are masculinity and stigma. The current study examined how masculinity, self-stigma, public-stigma, and perceived public stigma are related to men’s help seeking behaviors and the type of help seeking behavior men report advising for themselves, a friend, and a stranger. Results show masculinity was positively correlated to self-stigma and public stigma and self-stigma and public stigma are also positively correlated. Additionally, men reported being less willing to seek psychological help when expressing symptomology but more willing to suggest a …

An Exploration Of Names In Social And Professional Settings For Persons With Ethnically Identifying Names, Paige Whitney Johnson

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The overarching purpose of this collected papers dissertation was to explore the perspectives and experiences related to names in social and professional settings for persons with ethnically identifying names. The first paper was an integrative literature review. The second paper was a qualitative study utilizing the phenomenological approach. Both studies utilized self-presentation theory, while Study #2 added social penetration theory and social identity theory. Self-presentation theory posits that people put forth a public face to show that they possess desirable characteristics to observers. Social penetration theory is centered on the concept of self-disclosure and the notion that people carefully construct …

"Born Out Of Fear": A Grounded Theory Study Of The Stigma Of Bipolar Disorder For New Mothers, Walker Ladd Ph.D.

The Qualitative Report

Childbirth is an established trigger for the onset of bipolar disorders (BD) in the postpartum period, causing significant pathology and disability. Research has shown that the stigma of mental illness for new mothers is a powerful obstacle to care, preventing women from accessing critical treatment and social support. However, the majority of research has examined the relationship between the stigma and postpartum depression, leaving a gap in knowledge regarding stigma and postpartum bipolar disorder. The problem addressed in this grounded theory study was the lack of knowledge regarding the stigma of a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) in the first …

Adults’ Perceptions Of Children With Mental Illness Labels Who Tell Truths And Lies, Jessica Lynn Mccurdy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examined whether children’s truth- and lie-telling is perceived differently by adults when the children have mental illness labels (MIL). Participants (N= 432) read a vignette and watched a video from each of four veracity/motivation (i.e., prosocial truth, antisocial truth, prosocial lie, antisocial lie) and child label (i.e., control, ADHD, depression, asthma) conditions. After each video/vignette combination, participants rated their impressions of and responses towards the child. Participants also completed measures of their implicit and explicit attitudes towards mental illness. The results indicated participants had more negative perceptions of children they rated higher on dangerousness and lower …

Understanding Stigma, Secrecy, And Sex In Cnm Relationships, Rhonda Balzarini

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Scholars have posited that the family system is becoming more diversified with increases in same-sex, mixed sex, and consensually non-monogamous relationships. While same-sex and mixed-sex relationships have received considerable attention, public and academic interest in consensually non-monogamous relationships have increased dramatically. Yet despite increased interest, little is known about the ways in which relationships with various partners in non-monogamous relationships differ, whether differences that emerge are influenced by experiences of stigma or the desired role of different partners, whether stigma was driven by one’s relationship orientation, and how individual’s sexual attitudes impact the decision to pursue consensually non-monogamous arrangements. This …

“Your Biological Clock Is Ticking”: Examining Stigma Of Childless Men And Women, Kayla Tamas

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Prior research reveals that all childless individuals are negatively stigmatized, but voluntary and involuntary childless individuals are stigmatized to differing degrees. There is a little research investigating the differences in stigma associated with childless men and women. The current study examines the differences in stigma for voluntary and involuntary childless men and women by using a series of vignettes and having participants rate the childless individuals on fourteen general characteristics. Participants were recruited from psychology and sociology courses at the University of South Carolina Aiken as well as Psychological Research on the Net through Hanover College. It was hypothesized that …

Do Healthcare Students Endorsing Stigma Of Mental Illness Screen For Suicidal Ideation? An Evaluation Of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Behaviors, Dannel K. Petgrave

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stigma of mental illness endorsed by healthcare professionals has been linked to adverse outcomes. This issue underscores the need for early anti-stigma interventions in the context of professional training. The present study measured stigma change and suicide screening behaviors among medical, nursing, and pharmacy students enrolled in an interprofessional Communication Skills for Healthcare Professionals course. The Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS; Evans-Lacko et al., 2010), Opening Minds Scale for Health Care Providers (OMS-HC; Modgill, Patten, Knaak, Kassam, & Szeto, 2014), and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale Form C (M-C SDS Form C; Reynolds, 1982) was administered at baseline (T …

Explicit, Implicit, And Behavioral Stigmatization Of Mental Illness, Jessica S. James

Dissertations

Mental health concern is a public health concern that continues to be stigmatized. While the dual process model has been applied to other areas of social cognition (e.g., racism), this framework has not previously been frequently used to examine the stigmatization of mental illness. The current study sought to examine the stigmatization of mental illness within a dual process model to determine the relationship between explicit and implicit stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors. A total of 104 undergraduate students from the University of Southern Mississippi participated in this study. Participants completed multiple implicit and explicit measures of stigmatizing attitudes and behavioral …

Coping With Stigma And Social Exclusion Of Terror-Convicts’ Wives In Indonesia: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Any Rufaedah, Idhamsyah Eka Putra

The Qualitative Report

This research aims to: (1) understand the various forms of stigma and social exclusion toward the wives of those convicted of terrorism, (2) understand the psychological impact of stigma and social exclusion toward the wives, (3) understand the coping mechanism of the wives toward stigma and social exclusion. The all Muslim participants were 24 wives of terror convicts or former convicts who lived in East Java, Central Java, and West Java. The data were collected through interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGD), whereas interpretative psychological analysis were used to explore the participants’ experience. Results of the study show that participants …

Does Mental Illness Affect Societal Perception Of Sex Offenders?, Keely A. Bartram

Student Theses

Although mental illness is common in the sex offender population, it has never been examined how evidence of such may influence societal perception. In comparison to the non-sex offender population, it was hypothesized that participants would consider mental illness less mitigating for sex offenders, would be less likely to support the mental health treatment of sex offenders while incarcerated, and would consider certain mental illnesses (schizophrenia and substance abuse disorders) as particularly aggravating for this group of offenders. Respondents were asked to read a short vignette and then respond to a series of questions about culpability, sentencing decisions, and mental …

Contributors To And Correlates Of Loneliness In Lung Cancer Patients, Kelly A. Hyland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background

Loneliness, or the perceived discrepancy between the quantity and quality of ones’ actual social relationships and desired level of connectedness, is a potentially important psychosocial factor in lung cancer patients. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship of loneliness to depressive symptoms, quality of life, and social-cognitive variables and to explore the role of loneliness in mediating relationships between social-cognitive variables and depressive symptoms and quality of life. Finally, the study examined whether loneliness predicted change over time in depressive symptoms and quality of life.

Methods

Lung cancer patients were recruited from the Moffitt Cancer …

The Role Of Attachment In Experiences Of Affiliate Stigma Among Parents Of Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Individuals, Christina Mastropaolo

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parents of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals’ attachment styles and their experiences of LGB affiliate stigma associated with having an LGB child. It was hypothesized that higher levels of anxious and/or avoidant attachment, as measured by the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECR; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998), would predict higher levels of LGB affiliate stigma, as measured by the LGB Affiliate Stigma Measure (LGB-ASM; Robinson & Brewster, 2016). A sample of 87 self-identified parents of LGB individuals completed the ECR and LGB-ASM. Utilizing multiple regression, results of …

Stigma Associated With Classical Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia In Women’S Sexual Lives, Heino F.L. Meyer-Bahlburg, Jananne Khuri, Jazmin Reyes-Portillo, Anke A. Ehrhardt, Maria I. New

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The risk of intersex-related stigma often serves as social indication for “corrective” genital surgery, but has not been comprehensively documented. In preparation for the development of an intersex-specific stigma assessment tool, this qualitative project aimed to explore stigma in girls and women with classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. As part of a comprehensive follow-up project, 62 adult women with classical CAH (age range 18–51 years) took part in an open-ended retrospective interview focusing on the impact of CAH and its treatment on various aspects of girls’ and women’s lives. Deductive qualitative content analysis (Patton, 2014) of …

Determining The Physical And Social Barriers That Prevent Food-Insecure Students At The University Of Arkansas From Using The Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Campus Food Pantry, Sarah Elizabeth Yanniello

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the reasons why 38% of the students at the University of Arkansas experience food insecurity, yet only 1% of students have used the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Campus Food Pantry, in hopes to provide a guide to the Center for Community Engagement in their endeavors to reduce food insecurity on campus (Lisnic, 2016). An online survey was created using Qualtrics software, was submitted to and approved by the University of Arkansas Institutional Review Board, and was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Arkansas. The sample size …

Illusory Correlation And Perceived Criminality., Rachel A. Carter

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Illusory correlation is the false perception that a relationship exists between two variables. Previous studies have shown that people sometimes perceive a relationship between minority-group members and negative characteristics, when in fact, there is no informational basis for this perception. The current study investigates whether people readily perceive a relationship between criminality and minority groups, as is sometimes seen in society. Participants learned about the behaviors of members of two groups, arbitrarily labeled S and T. The ratio of positive:negative behaviors was the same for both groups (2:1). However, participants were shown fewer statements about Group T, making it a …

Empirical Correlates Of Mental Health Stigma, Emily Raduns

Honors Program Projects

Background

Mental health stigma describes the prejudice and discrimination faced by those with mental health disorders. Existing literature has connected heightened levels of stigma to lower levels of mental health education and lower levels of interpersonal contact with those experiencing mental health issues. Research also suggests a possible link between high religious fundamentalism and stigma.

Methods

To assess these relationships among these variables, a questionnaire was distributed online to 194 undergraduate students at a small religious university in the Midwest. The questionnaire included scales measuring fundamentalism and stigma, along with questions about mental health education levels and interpersonal contact with …

Stigma As A Predictor Of Parental Willingness To Seek Mental Health Services For Their Children In Rural America, Reed M. Smith

Honors Program Projects

Stigma exists in some capacity towards mental illness. This stigma is a barrier to mental health services for some people. Rural populations are known to have more stigma than their urban counterparts. This is on top of already lacking access to mental health services. This especially affects children. Polaha and Williams (2015) found stigma to be negatively correlated with willingness to seek help in rural parents. This study sought to explore this relationship in a more generalized sample. I posted a survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk that screened for rural parents of children under the age of 18. It included …

The Relationships Among Moral Judgement, Social Identification, And Stigmitization, Rebecca Isaacs

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Stigma has had a perceived link with the concept of morality since the Grecian era (Goffman, 1963). The purpose of this study was to see if there was a correlation between moral judgement (using the Defining Issues Test 2; DIT2), social identification (using the Identification with all Humanity Scale; IWAHS) and stigma attributions toward those with mental illness. Specifically, whether those with a heightened sense of identification with all humanity and more developed moral judgement schemas are less likely to make negative stigma attributions toward persons with mental illness. The results this study supported correlations between those variables and the …

Stigma As A Predictor Of Parental Willingness To Seek Mental Health Services For Their Children In Rural America, Reed M. Smith

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Background

Stigma exists in some capacity towards mental illness. This stigma is a barrier to mental health services for some people. Rural populations are known to have more stigma than their urban counterparts. This can be partly attributed to the rural value system and the lack anonymity in the tight-knit communities. This is on top of already lacking access to mental health services. This especially affects children. A 2015 study on low-income, urban, African-Americans found self-stigma as a predictor of help seeking. The first study focusing on parental stigma of seeking mental health services for their children in rural America …

The Effect Of The Type Of Mental Disorder On Mental Health Stigma, Kristina Conkright Peterson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Mental health stigma is an important topic as it has an influence on the care clients receive, as well as resources allocated by society. Previous research has primarily investigated the topic of stigma associated with schizophrenia and various factors that may influence the endorsement of stigmatizing beliefs. Few studies have investigated whether the type of mental disorder has an influence on the level of stigma. The current study evaluated the difference in the level of stereotypes endorsed across three conditions: schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and a typical person. Additionally, this study evaluated the reliability of using a global stereotype score …

Examining Stigma Among Preservice Teachers Following The Completion Of A Mental Health Literacy Course, Nella Cautillo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research examined whether a mental health literacy course for preservice teachers reduced mental health stigma and whether there were any meaningful differences in stigma based on gender, BEd program, previous degree, and previous learning about mental health. Preservice teachers from X University participated in a mental health literacy course for ten weeks, which involved education about various topics related to mental health. The teachers were asked to complete a pre-test (N=263) at the start of the course, which included an Opening Minds Stigma Scale (Modgill, Patten, Knaak, Kassam, & Szeto, 2014), measuring mental health stigma. Similarly, the teachers were …

Barriers And Facilitators To Positive Mental Health On A University Campus, Sheldon Hill

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The prevalence of mental health concerns among university students is well-documented and students accessing campus supports appear to be increasing. The objective of the current study was to gain a holistic and thorough perspective of the facilitators and barriers affecting positive mental health from the undergraduate student perspective. Data collected via an online form asked students about their current perspectives of mental health at an institutional level. A thematic analysis was performed and four overall themes were identified: trust in and quality of services, validation of mental health concerns, institutional procedures and environment, and stigma. The various themes and factors …

Mental Disorders As Brain Disorders: The Impact On Stigma Of Neuroscience-Based Mental Health Education, Katherine Tighe

Honors Theses

Stigmatization of mental illness is undoubtedly detrimental to those with mental health concerns as it limits employment, self-esteem and social support (Markowitz, 1998). In effort to combat the issue of stigma, previous research has evaluated the effectiveness of education as a method to reduce stigma in a college sample; finding that peer-led presentations are effective in reducing stigma (Kosyluk et al., 2016). The current study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of neuroscience-oriented presentation for reducing the stigma of mental illness among college students. Researchers asked 53 Union College students to complete seven-item Social Distance Scale (SDS; Penn et al., 1994) …

Is Counseling For You?, Edward Neukrug

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Have you been in counseling or therapy? If not, have you ever hesitated in seeing a counselor, or wondered why you felt so wary? Studies show about 20 to 35% of Americans having attended some form of counseling and psychotherapy compared to approximately 80% of mental health professionals.

Perceived Stigma And Barriers To Mental Health Care Among Former Military Service Members, Anna R. Z. Mastapha

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Former United States military members have consistently faced mental health concerns post discharge from the military. Some researchers have argued that the use of mental health services by veterans does not parallel the prevalence and need of such services (Hoge, Castro, Messer, McGurk, Cotting, & Koffman, 2004; Milliken, Auchterlonie, & Hoge, 2007; Vogt, 2011). Reasons why veterans do not access mental health care are varied and broad, however, they tend to be consistent with explanations rooted in the stigma of mental health care, and in the barriers that prevent the use of mental health care. The degree of the impact …

Examining Outcomes And Mechanisms Of The Honest, Open, Proud Intervention In College Students With Mental Illness, Carol Hundert

Master's Theses

Emerging adulthood is a developmental stage involving many changes and transitions (Arnett, 2004). The instability during this time can cause significant distress, making this a period of increased vulnerability for the development of mental illness (Kessler et al., 2007). The rise in the incidence of mental illness on college campuses has caused an increased demand for mental health services (Kadison & Digeronimo, 2004). Unfortunately, college students face many barriers to treatment, including self-stigma (Eisenberg, et al. 2009). Honest, Open, Proud for college students (HOP-C) is a peer-led group-based intervention designed to reduce self- stigma in college students living with mental …