title: Relationship between the public's belief in recovery, level of mental illness stigma, and previous contact.
abstract: Disbelief exits that individuals who have a mental health condition are able to recover and fully function in life. This study analyzed 1,437 adults from the 2006 General Social Survey. Structural equation modeling (1) examined the relationship between respondents' level of prejudicial attitudes and social distance (i.e., stigma) toward individuals who have a mental health condition and their belief in the potential of recovery (2) tested whether previous contact with an individual who received treatment was a mediator. Findings indicated that the belief in recovery led to lower levels of social distance. Prejudicial attitudes were found to be a predictor of one's level of social distance. Previous contact was not a mediator however; males, minorities and those with less education were less likely to have had previous contact. Results indicated a need to emphasize the probability of recovering from a mental health condition when developing target-specific stigma reducing strategies.
authors: Trauma Services, Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, 4900 Mueller Blvd., Austin, TX, 78723, USA, anbarczyk@seton.org.
authors: Amanda N
authors: AN
authors: Barczyk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011287:Prejudice; D012929:Psychological Distance; D011594:Psychometrics; D017678:Sex Distribution; D057545:Social Stigma; D013240:Stereotyping; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult