Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Depression Among Male and Female, Medical and Non-medical Major College Students

Abstract

Background: Stigma is often reported to be a barrier to the treatment and rehabilitation of depression. However, little is known about stigma toward people with depression among college students in China.Methods: Using a questionnaire with a case vignette describing depression, a total of 1,056 students from nine colleges/universities in Hunan Province of China were included in this study. The questionnaire addressed the attitudes toward depression and the desire for keeping a distance from depressed individuals. The current study explored the stigma attitudes of college students toward people with depression and the desire for social distancing, as well as the gender (male and female) and major (medical and non-medical) differences.Results: Over half of the respondents agreed that people described in the vignette were “dangerous” (60.7%) and “could snap out of the problem” (58.7%). Compared with female students, males were more likely to agree that “If I had this problem, I would not tell anyone” (7.0 vs. 13.2%, p = 0.001); compared with non-medical students, medical students were more likely to agree that “The problem is a sign of personal weakness” (38.0 vs. 50.0%, p < 0.001). A lot of respondents would be unwilling to “marry into the family of people with depression” (71.1%) or “work closely with them” (45.1%). Compared with male students, females were more unwilling to “work closely with them” (40.3 vs. 47.5%, p = 0.026).Conclusion: This study found that a high proportion of Chinese college students showed stigma toward and desire for social distancing from people with depression, male students and medical major students showed higher stigma in some subscale items toward people with depression. The present results suggest that more anti-stigma interventions should be applied for Chinese college students to help prevent or reduce stigma attitudes toward people with depression.

Stigmatizing attitudes towards depression among university students in Syria

“…A low percentage of the respondents (18.8%) stated that “if I have this problem, I will not tell anyone,” compared to a widespread belief among the Italian population (75%) who tend to hold their condition in solitude [ 40 ] and this in line with Australian people who have the belief of helpfulness of self-reliance [ 45 ]. Compared to the non-medical students (2.4%), medical students (8.4%) agreed more that “depression is a sign of personal weakness,” and this is in line with He et al [ 41 ], where medical students (50%) agreed more about that subscale than non-medical (38%). This may be due to the that psychiatric education focuses mainly on professional knowledge for diagnosis and treatment but neglects the humanistic and emotional concerns that reduce the stigma towards the mentally ill patients [ 41 ] and may be associated with their belief that depressive patients are unpredictable, dangerous, and find it hard to control themselves [ 46 ].…”

“…Compared to the non-medical students (2.4%), medical students (8.4%) agreed more that “depression is a sign of personal weakness,” and this is in line with He et al [ 41 ], where medical students (50%) agreed more about that subscale than non-medical (38%). This may be due to the that psychiatric education focuses mainly on professional knowledge for diagnosis and treatment but neglects the humanistic and emotional concerns that reduce the stigma towards the mentally ill patients [ 41 ] and may be associated with their belief that depressive patients are unpredictable, dangerous, and find it hard to control themselves [ 46 ].…”

“…The study found a higher level of stigma and desire for social distance among Syrian students toward depressive people than in other studies like muzzling et al [ 40 ], where Italian people who experienced depression either directly or indirectly hold less stigmatizing attitudes. The percentage of the respondents who agreed that “depressive people are dangerous” was higher in China (60%) [ 41 ], Qatar (60%) [ 42 ], brazil (56%) [ 43 ], Italy (27%) [ 37 ] and united states (33%) [ 44 ] than in the present study (18.8%) and this may be because the onset of depression is due mainly to stressful life conditions other than hereditary causes [ 40 ]. A low percentage of the respondents (18.8%) stated that “if I have this problem, I will not tell anyone,” compared to a widespread belief among the Italian population (75%) who tend to hold their condition in solitude [ 40 ] and this in line with Australian people who have the belief of helpfulness of self-reliance [ 45 ].…”

Predictors of personal depression stigma in medical students in China: differences in male and female groups

“…Moreover, a study conducted among Tunisian students suggested that females had more knowledge about mental illness [ 36 ], and it has been established that knowledge has a direct negative correlation with depression stigma [ 37 ]. Studies from several universities in Hunan Province, China, showed that there was no gender difference in depression stigma scores, which differs from the results of this study [ 21 ]. This may be attributed to the fact that the subjects in the above study were non-medical students in China.…”

“…More importantly, this study confirms that there are gender differences in depression stigma. Therefore, there is a need for gender-differentiated mental health education among Chinese medical students [ 21 , 31 ].…”