Open AccessStigmatising Attitudes Towards Depression and Alcohol Misuse in Young People: Relationships with Help-Seeking Intentions and Behavior
Author(s) -
Ali Cheetham,
Anthony F. Jorm,
Coralie J Wilson,
Bonita J Berridge,
Fiona Blee,
Daniel Lubman
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
adolescent psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2210-6774
pISSN - 2210-6766
DOI - 10.2174/2210676608666180913130616
Subject(s) - psychology , psychological intervention , help seeking , mental health , intervention (counseling) , clinical psychology , stigma (botany) , perception , psychiatry , suicide prevention , poison control , medicine , environmental health , neuroscience
Background and Objective: Adolescents experiencing mental health problemsoften approach their peers rather than seeking professional help. A better understanding ofadolescents’ stigmatising attitudes towards mental illness will help inform interventions thataim to improve the quality of advice that young people provide to their peers. In particular,there is a need for research examining adolescents’ attitudes towards alcohol misuse, givenit’s increase in prevalence during this period as well as the adverse outcomes that areassociated with untreated early drinking problems. Methods: High-school students (n=2447) were recruited as part of an intervention focussedon overcoming barriers to accessing help for mental health and substance use problems.Participants were presented with two vignettes that described a peer experiencing depressionand alcohol misuse, respectively, and completed the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire aswell as a 10-item scale measuring stigmatising attitudes. Past helping behavior was alsoassessed. Results: Compared to depression, a peer experiencing alcohol misuse was more likely to beconsidered “weak” rather than sick, and was perceived as more dangerous and unpredictable.The “weak-not-sick” and “dangerousness” dimensions of stigma predicted weaker intentionsto encourage help-seeking from informal sources, while ‘dangerousness’ predicted strongerintentions to encourage formal help-seeking. Both dimensions were associated with fewerinstances of past helping behavior. Conclusion: Young people stigmatise alcohol misuse more severely than depression.Overall, stigma was associated with weaker intentions to encourage peers to seek help. Whileperceptions of ‘dangerousness’ were associated with stronger intentions to seek help fromformal sources, this association may not translate into actual helping behavior.