Date of Award
4-2-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Department of Psychology: Clinical-Counseling Psychology
First Advisor
Daniel G. Lannin
Abstract
Past research has shown that disclosing one’s mental illness to another individual has reduced one’s feelings of self-stigma. However, there are gaps concerning the reasons why the act of disclosing for some decreases self-stigma, whereas the act of disclosing increases self-stigma in others. This study purported to fill this gap by investigating the influence of identity centrality on the relation between disclosure and self-stigma and positive regard’s moderation of identity centrality’s influence. Students from Illinois State University were recruited through e-mail and SONA and were asked to complete a series of questionnaires regarding distress, disclosure, identity, positive affect, and self-stigma. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate the influence of identity centrality on the relation between disclosure and self-stigma, as well as the influence of positive regard on identity centrality’s moderating relation with disclosure and self-stigma. Identity centrality and positive regard were found to moderate the relation between disclosure and self-stigma. The hypotheses were supported as results showed the hypothesized model was statistically significant: participants who held their mental health diagnosis or distress close to their identity and had high positive regard for it, were more likely to disclose and decrease their self-stigma. However, disclosure of participants who held their mental health diagnosis or distress close to their identity led to higher self-stigma when they held low positive regard toward it.
Recommended Citation
Ege, Samantha, "Identity Centrality's Influence on the Relation Between Disclosure and Mental Health Stigma" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 1242.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/1242
DOI
http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2020.Ege.S
Page Count
73
Comments
Imported from ProQuest Ege_ilstu_0092N_11688.pdf