Mental illness labels are accompanied by devaluation and discrimination. We extend research on reactions to mental illness by utilizing a field experiment (N = 635) to test effects of mental illness labels on labor market discrimination. This study involved sending fictitious applications to job listings, some applications indicating a history of mental illness and some indicating a history of physical injury. In line with research indicating that mental illness leads to stigma, we predicted fewer callbacks to candidates with mental illness. We also predicted relatively fewer callbacks for applicants with mental illness when the jobs involved a greater likelihood for interpersonal contact with the employer. Results showed significant discrimination against applicants with mental illness, but did not indicate an effect of potential proximity to the employer. This contributes a valuable finding in a natural setting to research on labor market discrimination towards people with mental illness.

To evaluate how the media frames veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this study systematically assesses the discourse on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the New York Times and Washington Post from 2003 to 2011. Our analysis of a stratified sample of 151 articles featuring veterans from either the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan finds that the media frames veterans as damaged by their service but deserving of government benefits and social assistance. When the media frames veterans as actively engaging in society, their social engagement is often because of or despite their injuries or mistreatment. We find interplay between victimization and deservingness such that depictions of the cohort as physically and mentally damaged complement and justify arguments for a sustained high level of benefits to accommodate the needs of veterans. We thus argue that generous benefits for veterans partly stem from their depiction as having suffered from their service.

Support for U.S. military personnel appears high, but does it extend to veterans after service ends? This study evaluates public support for social engagement with veterans and spending on recent military veterans’ health care and estimates the extent of socially desirable reporting on these forms of support. It uses a list experiment to identify the extent of socially desirable reporting on topics. Findings demonstrate that the public offers overwhelming support for spending on veterans’ health care and social engagement with the group, but they somewhat overstate this support. Support differs by age, race, and political ideology, and social desirability bias varies by race, political ideology, and prior military experience. African Americans express the lowest levels of support for returning veterans and the greatest extent of socially desirable reporting on that support. This is despite generally high rates of service and greater labor market returns to that service among this demographic group.

This article describes an experimental study that investigates the status-and stigma-related consequences of military service and of experiences in war resulting in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the study, participants interacted with fictitious partners whom they believed were real in four conditions: a control condition, a condition in which the ''partner'' was in the military, a condition in which the ''partner'' was a war veteran who had been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and a condition in which the partner was a military veteran with PTSD who had been deployed. Results support predictions that military experience would advantage partners with respect to influence over participants, but that PTSD would be disadvantaging. Previous contact with veterans moderated this relationship, mitigating the loss of influence associated with PTSD. A prediction that PTSD would significantly increase social distance was not supported.