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ERIC Number: EJ931840
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Oct
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0167
EISSN: N/A
Mental Illness Stigma as a Mediator of Differences in Caucasian and South Asian College Students' Attitudes toward Psychological Counseling
Loya, Fred; Reddy, Radhika; Hinshaw, Stephen P.
Journal of Counseling Psychology, v57 n4 p484-490 Oct 2010
Previous research has established that Asian Americans use mental health services less frequently and hold poorer attitudes toward psychological counseling than Caucasians. The authors directly tested whether stigmatizing beliefs regarding mental illness might explain such differential attitudes toward counseling in a South Asian and Caucasian student sample. Using mediation analyses, the authors examined 2 aspects of stigma posited to affect help-seeking attitudes: personal stigmatizing views and perceptions of the public's stigmatizing views directed toward persons with mental illness. First, the authors found that Caucasian (n = 74) college students revealed more positive attitudes toward counseling than did South Asian (n = 54) students. Second, in terms of mediation, increased personal stigma, but not perceived stigma, expressed by South Asians partially mediated and accounted for 32% of the observed difference in attitudes toward counseling services. These findings support a long-standing conjecture in the literature regarding the increased significance of stigma processes on disparities in majority-minority help-seeking attitudes. They also suggest that efforts to reduce disparities in attitudes toward counseling for South Asian students specifically should incorporate interventions to reduce the increased stigma expressed by this community, particularly related to a desire for social distance from persons with a mental illness. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure, and 1 footnote.)
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org/publications
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A