College student stigma of mental illness: the contact hypothesis

Twenty-first century college students in the United States are reporting dramatic increases in stress, anxiety, and depression (Iarovici, 2014). The onset of mental disorders occurs before the age of 24, and college students are vulnerable to this phenomenon (Kessler, Demler, Frank, Olfson, Pincus, Walters, Wang, & Zaslavsky, 2005). While they are a particular segment of society that is susceptible to mental health disorders, they are also an age group that seems to be adverse to seeking professional help (Reichert, 2012). Help-seeking behaviors strongly correlate to the stigma that college students associate with mental illness (Eisenberg, Downs, Golberstein & Zivin, 2009). Empirical studies of college student surveys reveal that these same students' apprehension towards disclosing mental health disorders are due to personal stigma or their perceptions of public stigmafrom outside cultural influences (Eisenberg et al., 2009). Contact hypothesis researchers, Corrigan, Morris, Michaels, Rafacz, and Rusch (2012) found that people who denounce mental illness begin to change their discriminatory beliefs of the mentally ill after having personal interaction with them. Particularly relevant to this contact theory stigma research, Pescosolido, Martin, Lang, and Olafsdottir (2008) posit that the Framework for Integrating Normative Influences on Stigma (FINIS) defines mental illness stigma as caused by complex normative influences at three societal levels – the micro, macro, and meso levels. Embedded in the meso level are social network characteristics that perpetuate stigma. This dissertation study posited that the meso level could also provide intergroup contact that would mitigate mental illness stigma. One such anti-stigma contact program, sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI, 2012), is "In Our Own Voice" (IOOV). IOOV features trained speakers sharing their life stories with mental illness to IOOV audiences (Rusch, Kanter, Angelone & Ridley, 2008). This research study proposed that college students' direct contact experiences before and after the IOOV presentation would change their stigmatizing attitudes. These college students' interviews and focus group text and talk before and after the IOOV experience, described today's society as associating the mentally ill with stereotypes of instability, sociopathic behaviors, and violence. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and Critical Metaphor Theory (CMT) (Gibbs, 2008) decoded the deep meaning of these college students' deeply emotional responses before IOOV, and their notable attitudinal shifts after IOOV. The positive outcomes of the IOOV student experience might influence college and university administrators to bring IOOV to their students as one approach towards creating a stigma-free campus climate.