Public attitudes toward three health conditions

Introduction: Stigma is a set of negative beliefs and attitudes that leads people to judge, avoid or treat others unfairly. Researchers asked adults in the United States about their beliefs and attitudes toward people with two psychological disorders and one physical illness.

Participants: 1,500 adults aged 18 to 89 who had signed up to take online surveys through a research company. The company chose respondents so that the sample matched the US adult population on age, gender, region and race/ethnicity. Only people with internet access who had joined the company's panel could be chosen.

Method: An institutional review board approved the study. Before starting, respondents read an informed-consent page and were told they could skip any question or stop at any time. No names or other identifying information were collected. Respondents rated their agreement with statements about "people with depression", "people with schizophrenia" and "people with diabetes" on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The order of the three conditions was randomly mixed for each respondent. Two of the statements were "People with [condition] are likely to be violent toward others" and "I would be unwilling to work closely on a job with a person with [condition]." A rating of 4 or 5 was counted as agreeing. Respondents also reported whether a close friend or family member had ever been diagnosed with a psychological disorder. At the end, everyone was shown a list of free mental health resources, including the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Results and Discussion: The table shows the percentages of respondents who agreed with each statement. Among respondents who reported a close friend or family member with a psychological disorder, 38% agreed that people with schizophrenia are likely to be violent, compared with 54% of those who did not. The researchers pointed out that most people with schizophrenia are not violent, and that respondents may have reported less negative attitudes than they really held because they wanted to appear fair.