First Faculty Mentor
Dr. Whitney Jeter
Department
Psychology
Award
3rd Empirical Graduate
Description
In the United States alone, 1 in 5 adults experience a mental illness during any given year (NAMI, 2015). Despite this, research shows that mental health stigma continues to be widely endorsed (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). Unfortunately, mental health stigma has the potential to negatively impact individual’s experiencing it. For example, research indicates that stigma may result in low self-esteem (Link, Struening, Neese-Todd, Asmussen, & Phelan, 2001), reluctance to seek help (Corrigan, Druss, & Perlick, 2014), and failure to adhere to treatment and medications (Sirey et al, 2001). However, much of the previous literature examining stigma and its impact focuses on adults, leaving knowledge of stigma towards youth with mental illnesses under-conceptualized (Heflinger & Hinshaw, 2010; Heflinger, Wallston, Maukolo, & Brannan, 2015). Researchers of the current study hope to close this literature gap by assessing attitudes and stigmas about juvenile mental health among a sample of college students.
Tolerance among college students: Attitudes towards juveniles with mental illness
In the United States alone, 1 in 5 adults experience a mental illness during any given year (NAMI, 2015). Despite this, research shows that mental health stigma continues to be widely endorsed (Corrigan & Watson, 2002). Unfortunately, mental health stigma has the potential to negatively impact individual’s experiencing it. For example, research indicates that stigma may result in low self-esteem (Link, Struening, Neese-Todd, Asmussen, & Phelan, 2001), reluctance to seek help (Corrigan, Druss, & Perlick, 2014), and failure to adhere to treatment and medications (Sirey et al, 2001). However, much of the previous literature examining stigma and its impact focuses on adults, leaving knowledge of stigma towards youth with mental illnesses under-conceptualized (Heflinger & Hinshaw, 2010; Heflinger, Wallston, Maukolo, & Brannan, 2015). Researchers of the current study hope to close this literature gap by assessing attitudes and stigmas about juvenile mental health among a sample of college students.
