Psychiatric Labelling, Sex Role Stereotypes and Beliefs About the Mentally Ill

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effect of two main variables on specific attitudes and beliefs about mental illness. The first variable tested the labelling theory proposal that the label of mental illness per se is stigmatizing for those so labelled. The second tested the proposal of Rosenfield (1982) that males and females receive a more severe societal reaction for deviance when the deviant behaviour is inconsistent with traditional sex role norms. Questionnaires with vignettes describing four behaviour types were given to young adult respondents. The expected effect of a psychiatric diagnosis and of deviance from sex role stereotypes were not confirmed. It was concluded that while several variables combine to influence specific attitudes and beliefs about the mentally ill, the type of behaviour displayed is the crucial factor.

Organizational and Individual Level Determinants of Stigmatization in Mental Health Services

“…Several other authors have revealed the importance of 'bizarre' or otherwise deviant behavior (e.g. Cormack & Furnham, 1998;Kirk, 1974;Phillips, 1964). Leaning on these studies, we expect that clients with more symptoms will report more rejection experiences.…”

The relative contributions of disease label and disease prognosis to Alzheimer's stigma: A vignette-based experiment

“…Most research on the signal step of 129 stigma has examined disorders associated with fear or dangerousness, presenting vignettes of 130 M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 6 behaviors as schizophrenia or as a mental illness led respondents to view the condition as more 135 serious and the person's social skills as more impaired than when the same symptoms were 136 presented without a disease label (Angermeyer and Matschinger, 1996;Arkar and Eker, 1994; 137 Cormack and Furnham, 1998;Sarbin and Mancuso, 1970; for a review, see Read et al, 2006). 138…”

Extending Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice to Men and Women With Sex-Typed Mental Illnesses

“…However, Wirth and Bodenhausen (2009) found the opposite effect: Individuals with gender atypical mental illnesses were evaluated more favorably because the illness was seen as more likely to be a genuine, biologically based mental disturbance (see also Sprock, Crosby, & Nielsen, 2001). In addition, many studies have found that men are treated more harshly for mental illness than women, regardless of the specific type of illness (e.g., Cormack & Furnham, 1998;Phillips, 1964;Schnittker, 2003;Tudor, Tudor, & Gove, 1977).…”