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Abstract
Two hundred sixty-four South Indians from Kerala, India completed questionnaires assessing factors influencing mental illness labeling, negative stereotyping, and social distancing based on case descriptions of mental illness. Case vignettes depicted symptoms of major depression and schizophrenia (Kumar & Nevid, 2010). Results revealed that case vignettes of schizophrenia elicited greater levels of endorsement of mental illness labeling, perceived weakness, and stereotyping as violent to others in comparison to case vignettes of depression. Responses to female case vignettes were associated with lower levels of social distance and stereotyping as violent to self than responses to male case vignettes. Our findings indicated that stereotyping as weak mediated the relationship between labeling and social distance. Greater endorsement of spiritual causal attributions of mental illness and traditional gender role beliefs elicited lesser endorsement of mental illness labeling, stereotyping as weak, and social distance, than lesser endorsement of spiritual causal attributions and traditional gender role beliefs. However, greater endorsement of spiritual causal attributions and traditional gender role beliefs was also associated with relatively greater levels of stereotyping as violent. Subsequent analyses indicated that mental illness labeling moderated the relationships between spiritual causal attributions, stereotyping as weak and violent, and social distancing, as well as the relationships between traditional gender role beliefs, stereotyping as weak and violent and social distancing.
