Premium
Understanding public stigma toward substance dependence
Author(s) -
Janulis Patrick,
Ferrari Joseph R.,
Fowler Patrick
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12070
Subject(s) - psychology , stigma (botany) , substance use , social distance , mental health , addiction , clinical psychology , social stigma , heroin , path analysis (statistics) , psychiatry , social psychology , drug , medicine , covid-19 , disease , statistics , mathematics , family medicine , pathology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , infectious disease (medical specialty)
This study examined the mechanisms of stigma toward individuals diagnosed with substance‐related disorders. The applicability of a mental health model of stigma extended to substance dependence was tested. Undergraduates completed a modified version of stigma questionnaires previously used to measure mental health stigma models. Questionnaires captured familiarity, perceived dangerousness, fear, and desired social distance toward individuals dependent to alcohol, marijuana, and heroin. Path analysis assessed the direct and indirect effects within this theoretical model for each substance. For marijuana and heroin, path models suggested that familiarity indirectly predicted desired social distance through perceived dangerousness and fear. For alcohol, familiarity did not indirectly or directly predict desired social distance. Implications for applying mental health models to substance disorder stigma are discussed.