Eugenics, genetics, and mental illness stigma in Chinese Americans
Eugenics, genetics, and mental illness stigma in Chinese Americans
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DOI：
10.1007/s00127-010-0319-7
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发表时间：
2012-01-01
影响因子：
4.4
通讯作者：
Phelan, Jo C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
WonPat-Borja, Ahtoy J.;Yang, Lawrence H.;Phelan, Jo C.
如果人们普遍接受对遗传疾病的负面看法，那么对精神障碍遗传原因的日益关注可能会加剧现有的耻辱感。中国政策层面的优生学和工作场所的基因歧视的历史表明，中国社区将比非遗传原因的精神疾病更不看好遗传性精神疾病。本研究的目的是确定美国华人和欧洲裔美国人在优生信念和对遗传性精神疾病患者的耻辱感方面的差异，我们利用2003年全国电话调查的数据，旨在衡量公众对精神疾病的看法如何不同，如果疾病被描述为遗传性的。通过对42名华裔和428名欧裔美国人子样本的优生信念项目和污名测量的分析，发现华裔美国人比欧裔美国人更支持这四种优生信念。种族显著调节了基因归因与五分之三的污名结果之间的关系;然而，基因归因实际上似乎对华裔美国人来说是去污名化的，而对欧裔美国人来说却增加了污名或没有区别。我们的研究结果表明，虽然华裔美国人比欧裔美国人持有更多的优生信念，但这些归因对污名的影响并不像西方文化中那样。这些结果表明，未来的反污名努力必须集中在优生态度以及文化信仰的华裔美国人，和精神疾病的遗传归因的影响，应检查相对于其他社会，道德和宗教归因在中国文化中常见。
The increasing interest in the genetic causes of mental disorders may exacerbate existing stigma if negative beliefs about a genetic illness are generally accepted. China's history of policy-level eugenics and genetic discrimination in the workplace suggests that Chinese communities will view genetic mental illness less favorably than mental illness with non-genetic causes. The aim of this study is to identify differences between Chinese Americans and European Americans in eugenic beliefs and stigma toward people with genetic mental illness.We utilized data from a 2003 national telephone survey designed to measure how public perceptions of mental illness differ if the illness is described as genetic. The Chinese American (n = 42) and European American (n = 428) subsamples were analyzed to compare their support of eugenic belief items and measures of stigma.Chinese Americans endorsed all four eugenic statements more strongly than European Americans. Ethnicity significantly moderated the relationship between genetic attribution and three out of five stigma outcomes; however, genetic attribution actually appeared to be de-stigmatizing for Chinese Americans while it increased stigma or made no difference for European Americans.Our findings show that while Chinese Americans hold more eugenic beliefs than European Americans, these attributions do not have the same effect on stigma as they do in Western cultures. These results suggest that future anti-stigma efforts must focus on eugenic attitudes as well as cultural beliefs for Chinese Americans, and that the effects of genetic attributions for mental illness should be examined relative to other social, moral, and religious attributions common in Chinese culture.