Mental Disorder Labels and Perceptions of Task Partners: The Role of Task Relevance

• In Event: 136 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 13. Mental and Emotional Health

Abstract

Previous research indicates that participants attribute higher stigma and lower status to task partners labeled with a mental disorder than partners not labeled with a mental disorder when working in a cooperative partnership. However, this research has largely focused on mental illness labels whose symptomatology is of uncertain relevance to the task at hand. In this study, I compare stigma and status attributions directed at task partners without mental disorder labels, with mental disorder labels of uncertain direct relevance to the task at hand (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and schizophrenia), and with a mental disorder label of known relevance to group task performance (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). While participants viewed task partners labeled with mental disorders similarly to partners without a mental disorder label overall, participants with an ADHD-labeled partner had more stigmatizing and status devaluing attributions of their partners on average.

Author

• Steven Larrimore Foy, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley