Belief that addiction is a discrete category is a stronger correlate with stigma than the belief that addiction is biologically based

BACKGROUND: Drug addiction is stigmatized, and this stigma contributes to poor outcomes for individuals with addiction. Researchers have argued that providing genetic explanations of addiction will reduce stigma, but there has been limited research testing this prediction. METHODS: We presented participants (N = 252) with news articles that either provided genetic or anti-genetic explanations of addiction. RESULTS: There was no effect of article condition on stigma. Participants’ biological essentialism correlated with stigma in the context of both opioid and methamphetamine addiction. However, participants’ non-biological essentialism was a significantly stronger correlate with stigma. CONCLUSIONS: This suggests that other essentialist beliefs, like belief that categories are discrete, may be more useful than biological essentialism for understanding addiction stigma. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13011-022-00512-z.