Prejudice toward people with borderline personality disorder: Application of the prejudice toward people with mental illness framework

Abstract

Background: People living with borderline personality disorder (BPD) face high levels of prejudice and discrimination from both the community and medical professionals, but no measure of prejudice toward people living with BPD exists. Aims: The current study aimed to adapt an existing Prejudice toward People with Mental Illness (PPMI) scale and investigate the structure and nomological network of prejudice toward people with BPD. Methods: The original 28-item PPMI scale was adapted to create the Prejudice toward People with Borderline Personality Disorder (PPBPD) scale. The scale and related measures were completed by three samples: 217 medical or clinical psychology students, 303 psychology undergraduate students, and 314 adults from the general population. Results: The original four-factor structure of the PPMI was supported in the PPBPD scale. Reported prejudice toward people with BPD was more negative than prejudice toward people with mental illness in general. The association of the PPBPD scale with antecedents and consequences was assessed, including social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, ethnocentrism, personality traits, empathy, prior contact, and feelings toward other stigmatized groups and mental illnesses. Conclusions: This study provided evidence for the validity and psychometric properties of the PPBPD scale across three samples and investigated anticipated relationships with theoretically related antecedents and consequences. This research will help improve understanding of the expressions underlying prejudice toward people with BPD.

Item response theory approach to ethnocentrism

“…In line with this conceptualization, Bizumic et al (2009Bizumic et al ( , 2021 and Bizumic (2019) developed the Ethnocentrism Scale, a culture-general measure that assesses a variety of ethnocentric attitudes. This scale served as a basis for research in political science (Sirin et al, 2017;Valentino et al, 2018;Ammassari et al, 2022;Hansen and Dinesen, 2022), though it has primarily been used in psychological research (Greitemeyer, 2012;Harrison, 2012;Cargile and Bolkan, 2013;Huxley et al, 2015;McWhae et al, 2015;Agroskin et al, 2016;Bukhori, 2017;Uhl et al, 2018;Reiss et al, 2019;Bizumic et al, 2022;Sheppard et al, 2023). The Ethnocentrism scale (Bizumic et al, 2009) comprises six bipolar subscales, with an equal number of positively-worded and negatively-worded items measuring each dimension.…”