Citation

Papadopoulos C, Foster J, Caldwell K. Community Ment. Health J. 2013; 49(3): 270-280.

Affiliation

Institute for Health Research, University of Bedfordshire, Putteridge Bury, Hitchin Road, Bedfordshire, LU2 8LE, UK, chris.papadopoulos@beds.ac.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10597-012-9534-x

PMID

22837106

Abstract

The aim of this study is investigate whether the cross-cultural value paradigm 'individualism-collectivism' is a useful explanatory model for mental illness stigma on a cultural level. Using snowball sampling, a quantitative questionnaire survey of 305 individuals from four UK-based cultural groups (white-English, American, Greek/Greek Cypriot, and Chinese) was carried out. The questionnaire included the 'Community Attitudes to Mental Illness scale' and the 'vertical-horizontal individualism-collectivism scale'. The results revealed that the more stigmatizing a culture's mental illness attitudes are, the more likely collectivism effectively explains these attitudes. In contrast, the more positive a culture's mental illness attitudes, the more likely individualism effectively explains attitudes. We conclude that a consideration of the individualism-collectivism paradigm should be included in any future research aiming to provide a holistic understanding of the causes of mental illness stigma, particularly when the cultures stigmatization levels are particularly high or low.

Language: en