Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Mental Health Labels in Stigma and Status Processes

印第安纳大学过去的研究记录了心理健康标签的严重耻辱后果。然而，研究还没有研究当没有给出心理健康标签来解释越轨行为时，人们如何看待个体;或者比较这些后果如何因提供标签的合法性而不同（例如，医生与外行）。标签的系统调查：（1）提供了一个更好的了解如何干预的耻辱和地位的损失过程（例如，在反污名化运动中，针对行为描述与精神疾病标签）;（2）可以告知医生关于诊断精神疾病患者的决定;（3）影响个人关于是否、何时以及如何披露自己的精神疾病的决定。为确保将这一信息传播给精神疾病患者和致力于减少精神疾病污名化的组织，共同主要负责人正在与一项全国性的反污名化运动-Bring Change 2 Mind合作。最后，本项目将通过对本科生研究助理进行社会科学研究方法的培训，并向他们传授心理健康问题的社会学含义，从而对本科生研究助理进行教育。本项目调查了心理疾病标签的存在、来源和特征如何影响与个体的期望社会距离（污名化）和感知能力（地位）。具体来说，这项研究提出了以下问题：（1）当一个心理健康标签被用来解释一个人的越轨行为时，这会如何改变别人对这个人的评价？(2)标签来源的合法性（例如，医生vs.外行）改变标签的影响？(3)精神疾病的特征如何影响这一过程？为了检验这些过程，共同研究者将完成一项针对美国成年人的全国性调查实验。遵循1996年、2002年和2006年综合社会调查中使用的方法，受访者将阅读描述患有精神疾病症状的人的小插曲。除了精神健康标签的存在/不存在和来源不同外，小插曲是相同的。为了研究不确定性对污名的影响，研究比较了提供特定诊断的影响（例如，精神分裂症），到没有诊断信息，最后，到明确的非诊断（例如，约翰没有精神疾病）。为了检验合法性的影响，我们考虑了三种标签来源：专家他人（例如，医生），非专家的其他人（例如，朋友或外行），以及调查受访者自己。最后，为了解释已知会导致高水平耻辱感的精神疾病的特征，co-PI将对这项研究进行四次重复，检查精神疾病：引起恐惧，破坏社会交往，两者兼而有之，或者两者都没有。研究人员预测，当心理健康标签被用来解释个人的越轨行为时，耻辱感会减少，因为个人不会对他/她的行为负责。他们还预测，由于医生？心理健康标签，由医疗专业人员使用，将比由外行人使用的标签更有效地减少耻辱。研究结果将有助于减少精神疾病患者的污名化和地位丧失。

SES-1636924Stephen BenardBianca ManagoIndiana UniversityPast research has documented the serious stigma consequences of mental health labels. However, research has not examined how individuals are viewed when a mental health label is not given to explain deviant behavior; or compared how these consequences differ by the legitimacy of who provides the label (e.g., physician vs. layperson). A systematic investigation of labeling: (1) provides a better understanding of how to intervene in the stigma and status loss processes (e.g., targeting descriptions of behavior vs. mental illness labels in anti-stigma campaigns); (2) may inform physicians' decisions regarding diagnosing patients with mental illness; and (3) influences individuals' decisions regarding if, when, and how to disclose their own mental illnesses. To ensure this information is disseminated to individuals with mental illnesses and organizations dedicated to reducing mental illness stigma, the co-PI is collaborating with Bring Change 2 Mind - a national anti-stigma campaign. Finally, the proposed project will educate undergraduate research assistants by training them in social science research methodology, and teaching them the sociological implications of mental health issues.This project investigates how the presence, source, and characteristics of mental illness labels affect the desired social distance from (stigmatization), and perceived competence of (status) an individual. Specifically, the research asks: (1) When a mental health label is given to explain an individual's deviant behavior, how does that change others' evaluations of that person? (2) Does the legitimacy of the label's source (e.g., physician vs. layperson) change the label's impact? (3) How do the features of the mental illness affect this process? To examine these processes, the co-PI will complete a national survey experiment of adults in the United States. Following methods used in the 1996, 2002, and 2006 General Social Surveys, respondents will read a vignette that describes a person who is experiencing symptoms of a mental illness. The vignettes are identical except the presence/absence and source of a mental health label differ. To study the effect of uncertainty on stigma, the research compares the effects of providing a specific diagnosis (e.g., schizophrenia), to no diagnostic information, and finally, to an explicit non-diagnosis (e.g., John does not have a mental illness). To examine the effect of legitimacy, three sources of labels are considered: expert others (e.g., physician), non-expert others (e.g., friend or layperson), and the survey respondents themselves. Finally, to account for features of mental illness known to cause high levels of stigma, the co-PI will conduct four replications of this study, examining mental illnesses that: induce fear, disrupt social interaction, both, or neither. The researchers predict that when mental health labels are given to explain individual's deviant behavior, stigma will be reduced because the individual will not be held responsible for his/her behavior. They also predict that because of the physicians? perceived legitimacy, mental health labels that are applied by medical professionals, will be more effective at reducing stigma than labels that are applied by lay persons. Results will inform efforts to reduce the stigmatization and status loss of individuals with mental illness.