Cargando…

Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses

BACKGROUND: Stereotypes of dangerousness are common predictors of stigmatising attitudes towards Severe Mental Illness (SMI). However less is known about pathogen avoidance mechanisms underlying stigma towards SMI, specially in samples of non-industrialised societies of Latin America and the Caribbe...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chamorro Coneo, Ana, Aristizabal Diazgranados, Edith, Hoyos de los Rios, Olga, Aguilar Santander, Daniela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9097401/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35549926
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03951-x
_version_ 1784706169154043904
author Chamorro Coneo, Ana
Aristizabal Diazgranados, Edith
Hoyos de los Rios, Olga
Aguilar Santander, Daniela
author_facet Chamorro Coneo, Ana
Aristizabal Diazgranados, Edith
Hoyos de los Rios, Olga
Aguilar Santander, Daniela
author_sort Chamorro Coneo, Ana
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Stereotypes of dangerousness are common predictors of stigmatising attitudes towards Severe Mental Illness (SMI). However less is known about pathogen avoidance mechanisms underlying stigma towards SMI, specially in samples of non-industrialised societies of Latin America and the Caribbean. The primary aim of this study was to examine pathogen-disgust sensitivity and danger appraisal mechanisms in responses of stigma towards SMI. METHODS: Cross-sectional design with convenience sampling. Using an online survey, volunteers at the Universidad del Norte in Colombia (N = 271) provided their sociodemographic data and completed the Three-Domain Disgust Scale (TDDS). Participants were randomised to different descriptions of someone with SMI that varied in terms of aggressiveness (with and without danger) and causes of the SMI. Then, following the attribution questionnaire (AQ-27), respondents reported affective and discriminatory responses to the person in the description. RESULTS: Increased disgust sensitivity to pathogen stimuli resulted in stronger reports of anger (β = .14; p = .03), and fear (β = 0.27; p < 0.001). The relationship between disgust sensitivity and discriminatory responses was indirectly mediated by fear towards SMI (Bootstrapped CI =—.04,—.009). Dangerousness attributions in the description of SMI predicted stronger feelings of anger (β = .23; p = 0.001) and fear (β = .40; p < .001), as well increased support for coercion-segregation of SMI (β = .34; p = 0.04), but less intentions to help (β = -.26; p = 0.003). The relationship between dangerousness and support for coercion was mediated by fear (Bootstrapped CI = .72, 1.37) and anger (Bootstrapped CI = .06, .44), whereas pity (Bootstrapped CI = .03, .38) and fear (Bootstrapped CI = -1.39, -.69) mediated responses of support for coercion-segregation of SMI. Attributions about causes and personal responsibility were not significantly linked to stigma towards SMI (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggested that pathogen avoidance and danger appraisal systems interplay in the generation of discriminatory behaviour towards SMI. Anti-stigma programs and policy makers would benefit from introducing strategies that challenge stereotypes of dangerousness and unpredictability by promoting positive contact with people with SMI.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9097401
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-90974012022-05-13 Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses Chamorro Coneo, Ana Aristizabal Diazgranados, Edith Hoyos de los Rios, Olga Aguilar Santander, Daniela BMC Psychiatry Research Article BACKGROUND: Stereotypes of dangerousness are common predictors of stigmatising attitudes towards Severe Mental Illness (SMI). However less is known about pathogen avoidance mechanisms underlying stigma towards SMI, specially in samples of non-industrialised societies of Latin America and the Caribbean. The primary aim of this study was to examine pathogen-disgust sensitivity and danger appraisal mechanisms in responses of stigma towards SMI. METHODS: Cross-sectional design with convenience sampling. Using an online survey, volunteers at the Universidad del Norte in Colombia (N = 271) provided their sociodemographic data and completed the Three-Domain Disgust Scale (TDDS). Participants were randomised to different descriptions of someone with SMI that varied in terms of aggressiveness (with and without danger) and causes of the SMI. Then, following the attribution questionnaire (AQ-27), respondents reported affective and discriminatory responses to the person in the description. RESULTS: Increased disgust sensitivity to pathogen stimuli resulted in stronger reports of anger (β = .14; p = .03), and fear (β = 0.27; p < 0.001). The relationship between disgust sensitivity and discriminatory responses was indirectly mediated by fear towards SMI (Bootstrapped CI =—.04,—.009). Dangerousness attributions in the description of SMI predicted stronger feelings of anger (β = .23; p = 0.001) and fear (β = .40; p < .001), as well increased support for coercion-segregation of SMI (β = .34; p = 0.04), but less intentions to help (β = -.26; p = 0.003). The relationship between dangerousness and support for coercion was mediated by fear (Bootstrapped CI = .72, 1.37) and anger (Bootstrapped CI = .06, .44), whereas pity (Bootstrapped CI = .03, .38) and fear (Bootstrapped CI = -1.39, -.69) mediated responses of support for coercion-segregation of SMI. Attributions about causes and personal responsibility were not significantly linked to stigma towards SMI (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggested that pathogen avoidance and danger appraisal systems interplay in the generation of discriminatory behaviour towards SMI. Anti-stigma programs and policy makers would benefit from introducing strategies that challenge stereotypes of dangerousness and unpredictability by promoting positive contact with people with SMI. BioMed Central 2022-05-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9097401/ /pubmed/35549926 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03951-x Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research Article
Chamorro Coneo, Ana
Aristizabal Diazgranados, Edith
Hoyos de los Rios, Olga
Aguilar Santander, Daniela
Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses
title Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses
title_full Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses
title_fullStr Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses
title_full_unstemmed Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses
title_short Danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses
title_sort danger appraisal and pathogen-avoidance mechanisms in stigma towards severe mental illness: the mediating role of affective responses
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9097401/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35549926
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-03951-x
work_keys_str_mv AT chamorroconeoana dangerappraisalandpathogenavoidancemechanismsinstigmatowardsseverementalillnessthemediatingroleofaffectiveresponses
AT aristizabaldiazgranadosedith dangerappraisalandpathogenavoidancemechanismsinstigmatowardsseverementalillnessthemediatingroleofaffectiveresponses
AT hoyosdelosriosolga dangerappraisalandpathogenavoidancemechanismsinstigmatowardsseverementalillnessthemediatingroleofaffectiveresponses
AT aguilarsantanderdaniela dangerappraisalandpathogenavoidancemechanismsinstigmatowardsseverementalillnessthemediatingroleofaffectiveresponses