Stigma and Health, Vol 8(1), Feb 2023, 1-11; doi:10.1037/sah0000386
The present research examined the benefits and caveats of a categorical and continuum perspective on mental illness on attitudes related to two contradictory forms of eating disorder (ED) stigma: Volitional stigma refers to the perception that ED-related behaviors are choices, whereas mental illness stigma emphasizes that, due to the severity of their condition, individuals with mental illness are very different from other people. We hypothesized that categorical beliefs improve attitudes related to volitional stigma (perceptions of responsibility for an ED, prosocial behavior intentions), but worsen attitudes related to mental illness stigma (distrust, social distance preferences, recovery expectations). Conversely, we expected continuum beliefs to be beneficial with regard to mental illness stigma but worsen attitudes related to volitional stigma. In an online experiment, 725 participants (68.28% female; mean age = 32.03 years) were assigned to receive information on a mental health continuum, a dichotomy of mental health and illness, or information related to neither perspective (control condition). Then they read a vignette about a target with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), or binge eating disorder (BED) before completing measures on ED stigma. Compared to the control condition, distrust and social distance preferences were lower in the continuum condition, whereas responsibility perceptions were lower in the categorical condition. There was also a reduction in distrust and social distance preferences in the categorical condition, albeit only the former was significant. Prosocial behavior intentions and recovery expectations were unaffected by perspective, and we did not find any perspective to have negative effects on stigma-related attitudes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)