Public attitudes regarding individual and structural discrimination: two sides of the same coin?
- PMID: 24507911
- DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.11.014
Public attitudes regarding individual and structural discrimination: two sides of the same coin?
Abstract
Public attitudes and beliefs are relevant to both individual and structural discrimination. They are a reflection of cultural conceptions of mental illness that form a reality that people must take into account when they enact behavior and policy makers must confront when making decisions. Understanding and keeping track of these attitudes is critical to understanding individual and structural discrimination. Theories of stigma posit that both forms of discrimination are distinct phenomena. Practically nothing is known about how attitudes regarding individual and structural discrimination relate. Our study addresses this gap by examining how attitudes toward allocating financial resources to the care of people with depression (structural discrimination) have developed over the last decade in Germany, compared to the public's desire for social distance from these people (individual discrimination). Previous studies have shown the public being more ready to accept cutbacks for the care for mentally ill persons than for medically ill persons. These preferences could have changed with regard to depression, since there is a growing awareness among the German public of an "epidemic of depression". The idea of a high prevalence of depression may have led to a heightened perception of personal susceptibility for this disorder, making the public become more reluctant to accept cutbacks for the care of people with depression. On the other hand, there is reason to assume that the growing awareness of high prevalence of depression among the general public has not affected individual discrimination of persons suffering from this disorder. The two assumptions were tested comparing data from population surveys conducted in Germany in 2001 and 2011. Within ten years, the proportion of respondents who opposed cutting money from depression treatment tripled from 6% to 21%. In contrast, the public's desire for social distance from persons with depression remained unchanged. Moreover, both trends proved to be independent from each other. Our findings suggest that attitudes relevant to structural and individual discrimination are not necessarily linked together and may lead to divergent results. This means that a comprehensive understanding of stigma must consider both forms of discriminating attitudes together. Studying both simultaneously may deepen our understanding of each and point to novel ways to produce change.
Keywords: Attitudes; Depression; Individual discrimination; Population study; Structural discrimination.
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Similar articles
-
Changes in the perception of mental illness stigma in Germany over the last two decades.Eur Psychiatry. 2014 Aug;29(6):390-5. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2013.10.004. Epub 2013 Dec 8. Eur Psychiatry. 2014. PMID: 24321774
-
Public attitudes towards people with depression in times of uncertainty: results from three population surveys in Germany.Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013 Sep;48(9):1513-8. doi: 10.1007/s00127-012-0618-2. Epub 2012 Nov 3. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013. PMID: 23124482
-
Portraying mental illness and drug addiction as treatable health conditions: effects of a randomized experiment on stigma and discrimination.Soc Sci Med. 2015 Feb;126:73-85. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.12.010. Epub 2014 Dec 5. Soc Sci Med. 2015. PMID: 25528557 Clinical Trial.
-
[Stigma and discrimination towards people with schizophrenia--a survey of studies and psychological mechanisms].Psychiatr Pol. 2009 Nov-Dec;43(6):655-70. Psychiatr Pol. 2009. PMID: 20209878 Review. Polish.
-
Communication Strategies to Counter Stigma and Improve Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder Policy.Psychiatr Serv. 2018 Feb 1;69(2):136-146. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201700076. Epub 2017 Oct 2. Psychiatr Serv. 2018. PMID: 28967320 Free PMC article. Review.
Cited by
-
Looking Back to Leap Forward: A Framework for Operationalizing the Structural Racism Construct in Minority Health Research.Ethn Dis. 2021 May 20;31(Suppl 1):301-310. doi: 10.18865/ed.31.S1.301. eCollection 2021. Ethn Dis. 2021. PMID: 34045832 Free PMC article.
-
Establishing community mental health facilities: a comparative review of Hong Kong and international jurisdictions.BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Jan 7;23(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08868-5. BMC Health Serv Res. 2023. PMID: 36611169 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Qualitative Contributions to a Randomized Controlled Trial Addressing HIV/AIDS-Stigma in Medical Students.Qual Rep. 2015 Dec;20(12):2012-2024. Epub 2015 Dec 21. Qual Rep. 2015. PMID: 26855975 Free PMC article.
-
Association between attitudes of stigma toward mental illness and attitudes toward adoption of evidence-based practice within health care providers in Bahrain.PLoS One. 2019 Dec 2;14(12):e0225738. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225738. eCollection 2019. PLoS One. 2019. PMID: 31790468 Free PMC article.
-
The fight against stigma: Multilevel stigma interventions in schizophrenia patients.J Public Health Res. 2020 Dec 7;9(4):1883. doi: 10.4081/jphr.2020.1883. eCollection 2020 Oct 14. J Public Health Res. 2020. PMID: 33381470 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical
Miscellaneous