Multicultural Psychology Commons^™

Sociocultural Orientations And Mental Illness Stigma: A Novel Mediational Model, Karis Treadwell

Honors Projects

This study proposes a novel mediational model to investigate the relationship between sociocultural orientations and mental illness stigma by exploring empathy and controllability attributions as mediators. Past literature suggests that understanding these variables may contain important implications for guiding stigma-reducing efforts. Questionnaires assessing sociocultural orientations, empathy, blaming attributions, and general mental illness stigma were administered to 109 students at a small liberal-arts college in the northeast United States. The sample consisted of 80 female-identifying participants, 28 male-identifying participants, and 1 non-binary participant. Questionnaires administered included the Individualism and Collectivism scale (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998), the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective …

Mental Health Stigma And Law Enforcement Officers, Moses Park

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research was to describe the perception of law enforcement officers (LEOs) about the stigmatizing behavior they experienced from fellow officers in their organization, after they sought mental health services, following a traumatic event they were involved in.

Methodology: The methodology for this research study will be qualitative from a phenomenological perspective. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 12 active and retired LEOs who served in southern California.

Findings: After the analysis, seven major findings were yielded. The major findings of the study are: (a) Within the law enforcement …

Making Mental Health Information Accessible To Latinxs Through The Use Of Internet Forums, April Martinez

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

This study was conducted to explore the use of Internet memes as a way to address mental health stigma within the Latinx community. The study measured participants’ mental health prejudice both before and after exposure to a series of memes over a two-week span. The control group was shown memes that did not relate to mental health and the experimental group was shown mental health memes. The results were analyzed both quantitatively, for significant between group differences in posttest prejudice, and qualitatively for emerging themes in the participants’ comments on the memes. Results showed no significant decrease of stigma between …

Resilience Among Survivors Of Adverse Childhood Experiences In Appalachia, Bridget Jeter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The empirical investigation of adverse childhood events (ACEs) and their relationship with health and well-being outcomes in later life is increasing. Less is known about factors that may promote resilience for those who have survived such challenges, such as how resilience may be facilitated for those with ACEs residing in a marginalized region such as South Central Appalachia. Multidimensional spirituality, social support, stigma related to ACEs, and Appalachian acculturation may serve as both valid cultural factors and potential indicators of resilience. Cross-sectional, simultaneous multiple regression analysis was performed on data collected from 272 adult patients of a South Central Appalachian …

Implicit Attitudes Of Asian American Older Adults Toward Aging, Anita Ho

Scripps Senior Theses

Greenwald, McGhee, and Schwartz (1998) developed the Implicit Association Test (IAT), a measure of mental associations between target pairs and positive or negative attributes. Highly associative categories yield faster responses than the reverse mental associations, which is thought to reflect implicit attitudes toward stereotypes. The present study investigated the effect of ethnic group on one’s implicit attitudes toward aging and gender stereotypes by comparing two groups of older adults, Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans, that likely hold different culture values. Past qualitative studies have established the existence of mental health stigma in Asian American populations, including negative Asian American perceptions …

Race, Stigma, And The Politics Of Black Girls Hair, Vanessa King

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Historically, black girls and women has been subjected to high public scrutiny that represents their bodies and hair styles as deviant from a European standard of beauty and respectability. Black women have endured many social pressures that have shaped their hair choices in various ways. I will explore assimilation theories of culture and the construction of dominant ideals of worth and respectability within K-12 settings, to document the ways in which black girls' hairstyles have been stigmatized. For this this study, I conducted a media and discourse analysis to document the language that is used to stigmatize black women's hair, …

The Effect Of Gender And Veteran Status On The Level Of Perceived Stigma Surrounding Ptsd, Ryan E. Lubock

Master's Theses

This paper explores how gender and veteran status effects the level of stigmatization around Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignette conditions, which were distinguished by gender and veteran status. Participants were then asked to rate how they perceived the individual depicted in the vignette. The researchers analyzed the results by examining how the participants own report of gender, and masculinity, effected how each of the vignettes were judged. This paper addresses the stigma surrounding mental health in general, and more specifically how that stigma affects individuals suffering from PTSD across multiple domains. For …

“I Wonder What You Think Of Me”: A Qualitative Approach To Examining Stereotype Awareness In Appalachian Students, Chelsea G. Adams

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

Historically, Appalachia has been stereotyped as being a culture bred in poverty and ignorance. Much research has shown that stereotyping reveals a pattern of behavioral change and an impact on psychological well-being for the stereotyped (e.g., Pinel, 1999; Woodcock, Jernandez, Estrada, & Schultz, 2012), and has largely been centered on race and gender (e.g., Byrnes, 2008; Tuckman & Monetti, 2011). Less is known about the development of culture-specific stereotypes such as those related to Appalachians – a highly stigmatized group (Daniels, 2014; Otto, 2002). The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how adolescents in rural Appalachia …

The Effects Of Brief, Passive Psychoeducation On Suicide Literacy, Stigma, And Attitudes Toward Help-Seeking Among Latino Immigrants Living In The United States, Aubrey Renee Dueweke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Latino immigrants drastically underutilize mental health treatment services compared to other ethnic groups, despite rates of mental illness that are comparable to those observed among the general population. With regards to suicidal behavior specifically, twice as many Latino suicide attempters do not seek or receive psychiatric services in the year prior to attempting suicide, compared to non-Latino White attempters. The main objective of this study was to investigate whether provision of brief, passive psychoeducation in the form of a brochure could increase suicide literacy (i.e., recognizing suicidal behavior, understanding risk factors and causes of suicidal behavior), reduce stigma toward suicidal …

The Effects Of Construal Level On Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward An Individual With Mental Illness, Jeremy Glenn Gay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People with mental illness often face stigmatization by society. However, little research has examined cognitive factors that may activate or dissipate stigmatizing attitudes toward those with mental illness. Construal level, or the extent that people focus on abstract generalizations versus concrete details of events, may be one such cognitive factor. Two contradictory hypotheses emerged concerning how construal may affect stigmatizing attitudes. One hypothesis suggests that abstract construals will decrease stigmatization because abstract construals tend to increase the activation of similar goals, thus leading to a similarity focus. In contrast, another hypothesis suggests that abstract construals will increase stigmatization because abstract …

Gender Nonconformity, Psychosocial Stressors, And Psychopathology: Looking Beyond Sexual Orientation, Kathryn M. Oost

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

LGBT individuals experience disproportionately more victimization than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. Within these populations, perceived gender nonconformity predicts even higher rates of victimization. The current investigation examined relationships between gender nonconformity, experiences with victimization, and psychopathology among 671 students from the University of Montana, including 64 LGBT-identified individuals, who took part in an online study as part of course requirements. Hierarchical regressions were calculated to examine the relationships between gender expression, victimization, and psychopathology while controlling for sexual orientation, gender identity, and ethnicity. Gender nonconformity was a significant predictor of reported victimization, beyond sexual orientation and ethnicity (ΔR …

Primary And Family Stigma Of Mental Illness: Comparing Perceptions Of African Americans And European Americans, Julia Rubinshteyn

Dissertations (1934 -)

Research has shown that stigma is a significant barrier to mental health treatment seeking, and that African Americans tend to have significantly lower rates of treatment seeking compared to European Americans (Wang et al., 2005). Stigma affecting the individual directly is called primary stigma (Corrigan & Kleinlein, 2005), whereas stigma affecting the individual’s family members is referred to as family stigma. In the present study, a vignette was presented to 287 undergraduate students at Marquette University. The study examined attitudes of primary and family stigma toward a target based on race (European American or African American) and type of mental …

The Impact Of Acculturation And Labeling On African Americans' Stigmatization Of Mental Illness, Tahirah Abdullah

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Although African Americans endorse more stigma towards those with mental illnesses than European Americans and are quite susceptible to stigma’s detrimental effects on help-seeking for mental health problems, stigma has not been adequately studied for African Americans. Given that stigma is a key barrier to obtaining help for mental health problems, it is imperative that we gain a more nuanced understanding of stigma. This study used experimental design and vignettes to examine the influence of acculturation and labeling on African Americans’ stigmatization of depression, social phobia, alcohol dependence, and schizophrenia. Results indicated that schizophrenia was generally the most stigmatized disorder …

Perceptions Of Mental Health Stigma And Discrimination In A Mexican American Sample, Jeff D. Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The stigma of mental health problems between Mexican Americans and White non-Hispanic European Americans was investigated and measured by attitudes toward seeking help and the amount of social distance desired from individuals with mental health problems. The stigma of mental health has been identified as a barrier to accessing mental health services among Mexican Americans and men in general. Men from both groups access mental health services at a significantly lower rate than women from both groups. This study contributed to research and practice by examining the possible differences in the level of stigma toward mental health problems between Mexican …