Exploring the relationship between social class, mental illness stigma and mental health literacy using British national survey data

Abstract

The relationship between social class and mental illness stigma has received little attention in recent years. At the same time, the concept of mental health literacy has become an increasingly popular way of framing knowledge and understanding of mental health issues. British Social Attitudes survey data present an opportunity to unpack the relationships between these concepts and social class, an important task given continuing mental health inequalities. Regression analyses were undertaken which centred on depression and schizophrenia vignettes, with an asthma vignette used for comparison. The National Statistics Socio-economic Classification, education and income were used as indicators of class. A number of interesting findings emerged. Overall, class variables showed a stronger relationship with mental health literacy than stigma. The relationship was gendered such that women with higher levels of education, especially those with a degree, had the lowest levels of stigma and highest levels of mental health literacy. Interestingly, class showed more of an association with stigma for the asthma vignette than it did for both the depression and schizophrenia vignettes, suggesting that mental illness stigma needs to be contextualised alongside physical illness stigma. Education emerged as the key indicator of class, followed by the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification, with income effects being marginal. These findings have implications for targeting health promotion campaigns and increasing service use in order to reduce mental health inequalities.

Knowledge of depression and malingering: An exploratory investigation

“…Indeed, it could be the case that the sample included in the present study have particularly high levels of knowledge or it might be the case that the UK population, in general, are well educated regarding depression. At the very least, this study corroborates previous research demonstrating that as a society we seem to have a high level of knowledge when it comes to depression (Holman, 2015). As a result, future research is needed to provide a better understanding of the relationship between knowledge of depression and malingering.…”

“…As a result, the present study seeks to explore whether those with a more sophisticated knowledge of mental disorder may be more likely to malinger as the cognitive load required to lie would be reduced. In a study which analysed the British social attitudes survey data, Holman (2015) evidenced that, in general, the UK public has significantly more knowledge regarding depression as opposed to other disorders such as schizophrenia or asthma obtaining a diagnosis accuracy score of 72% in comparison to 35% and 62%…”

Die Effekte von Geschlecht, Bildung und Einkommen auf antizipierte Scham bei psychischen Erkrankungen – Ergebnisse einer deutschen Bevölkerungsstudie

“…Die mit höherer Bildung zunehmende Scham bei Männern widerspricht Studienergebnissen zu stärkeren stigmatisierenden Einstellungen [12] sowie der geringeren Bereitschaft zur Inanspruchnahme von Hilfe [27] in der unteren Bildungsschicht, da diese tendenziell von stärkerer Maskulinität geprägt ist [14,18]. Möglicherweise ist Scham hier ein Ausdruck der Furcht vor einem Statusverlust infolge einer psychischen Erkrankung [7].…”

“…Eine Metaanalyse [16] konnte bei Personen mit psychischen Erkrankungen jedoch keine konsistenten Assoziationen von Selbststigma und Bildung nachweisen. Weiterhin deutet eine US-amerikanische Studie [18] auf eine mögliche Interaktion von Geschlecht und Bildung hin: Frauen mit hoher Bildung zeigten hier die geringste Ausprägung stigmatisierender Einstellungen bezüglich psychischer Erkrankungen.…”

Prevalence of depression, and its associated factors among the elderly in Songkhla Province, Thailand: Two-stage cluster sampling study

“…Education in having access to mental health counseling or treatment might furthermore prevent them from the suffering depression. 20 The data of mental health literacy might be more useful as well as significant for us in dealing with depression in the elderly.…”