Gender, stigma, and mental health among young adults in the United States
Date
2024
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
This series of three studies seeks to broaden the field’s understanding of mental illness stigma and its impacts on mental health service use and depressive symptoms among young adults with mental health problems in the United States through a gender lens. Although young adults in the United States face significant mental health challenges, the rates of mental health service use among young adults remain low. Through a series of quantitative analyses of data collected online from October 2023 to February 2024, the following three studies explore (1) the intersectional effects of gender and race/ethnicity on mental illness stigma; (2) the role of social support in influencing associations between internalized mental illness stigma and mental health service use, and the moderating effects of gender on these associations; (3) associations between anticipated and experienced stigma with depressive symptoms via the pathways of positive and negative coping strategies, and the moderating effects of gender on these associations. Implications for mental illness stigma interventions and future research are discussed.
Description
Keywords
Coping, Gender, Mental illness stigma, Service use, Young adults