title: Continuum beliefs and stigmatising beliefs about mental illness: results from an Asian community survey.
abstract: To establish the prevalence and correlates of continuum beliefs for five mental illnesses in a multiethnic population and to explore its association with stigma.
  
  
  
  A community-based, cross-sectional study.
  
  
  
  A national study in a multiethnic Asian country.
  
  
  
  A comprehensive study of 3006 Singapore residents (Singapore citizens and permanent residents) aged 18-65 years who were living in Singapore at the time of the survey.
  
  
  
  Parameters assessed included belief in a continuum of symptom experience, stigma dimensions and causal beliefs in mental illness. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression (MLR).
  
  
  
  About half of the population indicated agreement with a continuum of symptoms for depression (57.9%) and dementia (46.8%), whereas only about one in three respondents agreed with it for alcohol abuse (35.6%), schizophrenia (32.7%) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (36.8%). MLR analyses revealed that students (β=0.28; 95% CI 0.05 to 0.50; p=0.018) and those who were unemployed (β=0.60; 95% CI 0.26 to 0.95; p=0.001) (vs employed) as well as those who had previous contact with people with mental illness (β = 0.31; 95% CI 0.18 to 0.45; p<0.001) and believed stress, family arguments, difficulties at work or financial difficulties to be a cause for mental illness (β=0.43; 95% CI 0.13 to 0.73; p=0.005) were associated with a higher belief in a continuum of symptom experience. Continuum beliefs were related to lower desire for social distance in alcohol abuse, OCD and schizophrenia; however, they were associated with higher scores on 'weak-not-sick' stigma dimension in dementia and schizophrenia.
  
  
  
  Perceiving that a person with a mental illness is similar to themselves may reduce social distancing by the public. Thus, the approach may lend itself well to public education aimed at reducing stigma.
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore Mythily@imh.com.sg.
authors.forename: Mythily
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Subramaniam
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Edimansyah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abdin
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Louisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Picco
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Shazana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahwan
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Anitha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jeyagurunathan
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Janhavi Ajit
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vaingankar
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: Siow Ann
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Chong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia; D003866:Depressive Disorder; D054541:Family Conflict; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012846:Singapore; D057545:Social Stigma; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014478:Unemployment; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Continuum Beliefs; Multi-ethnic; Stigma