title: College students' stigmatization of people with mental illness: familiarity, implicit person theory, and attribution.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Stigma associated with mental illness (MI) results in underutilization of mental health care. We must understand factors contributing to stigma to shape anti-stigma campaigns.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the factors influencing stigma in university students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Undergraduate psychology students completed measures on causal attribution, stigma, social distance, implicit person theory (IPT), and familiarity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The hypothesis was partially supported; people who felt personality traits were unchangeable (i.e. entity IPT) were more likely to stigmatize individuals with mental disorders and desired more social distance from them. Familiarity with people with a MI individually predicted less desire for social distance, yet the redundancy of the predictors made the effect of familiarity on stigma fall just short of statistical significance. Judgments of biogenetic causal attribution were related to higher stigma levels, but not so when familiarity and IPT were taken into account.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Educational campaigns may be effective by focusing on aspects of MI highlighting similarity with non-diagnosed people, and that people with MI can recover.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Global Leadership , Indiana Institute of Technology , Fort Wayne , IN , USA.
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Lyndon
authors.affiliation: b Department of Interdisciplinary Professions , East Carolina University , Greenville , NC , USA , and.
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crowe
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychology , East Carolina University , Greenville , NC , USA.
authors.forename: Karl L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Wuensch
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychology , East Carolina University , Greenville , NC , USA.
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: McCammon
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychology , East Carolina University , Greenville , NC , USA.
authors.forename: Karen B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D012929:Psychological Distance; D057545:Social Stigma; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attribution ; familiarity; mental illness (attitudes toward); stigma