Stigma is a risk factor for adverse mental health outcomes among several groups, including gays, lesbians and bisexuals (LGB), African-Americans, and the overweight/obese. The mechanisms conferring this risk, however, remain inadequately understood, hindering the development of effective interventions for these vulnerable populations. Through integrating research, theory and methods from clinical and social psychology, the present investigation seeks to understand how stigma contributes to psychopathology. The author proposes a theoretical model hypothesizing that experiences of stigma render individuals more vulnerable to established psychological and social risk factors that confer risk for psychopathology. The predictive utility and generalizability of this model will be examined in a longitudinal, prospective study among a community-based cohort of approximately 2,100 adolescents (grades 5-12). Stigma-related stressors are particularly pervasive among LGB, African-American and obese/overweight youth, but research with this age group has been lacking. Thus, the present proposal will advance our understanding of the ways in which stigma leads to psychopathology during this significant developmental period.
Specific aims of the proposed work are to: (1) document stigma-related stress as a risk factor for the development of internalizing symptoms in a longitudinal sample of adolescents;(2) establish specific cognitive, emotion regulation, and social processes as sequelae of stigma-related stress;(3) determine whether these processes mediate the relationship between stigma and internalizing symptoms;and (4) evaluate the generalizability of the proposed etiologic model through the examination of three stigmatized groups. The results of the study have the potential to provide new insights into an important public health problem.
Because efforts to improve attitudes towards stigmatized individuals involve protracted changes over time, clinical interventions are needed for those currently experiencing mental health problems that result from stigma. This study highlights several processes including cognitive, emotion regulation and social sequelae of stigma that are modifiable through existing treatments. The results will therefore set the stage for the development of theory-based preventive interventions that seek to reduce the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among members of various stigmatized groups.
