The Relationship Among Mental Illness Microaggressions, Level of Contact, and Prejudicial Beliefs

• Main Author: Zurick, Shelby
• Language: EN
• Published: Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville 2016
• Subjects: Mental health|Psychology|Clinical psychology
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10130723

<p> Research on microaggressions has consistently lacked focus on microaggressions experienced by persons with mental illness. What little research has been conducted has examined microaggressions as reported by the victim. The current study aimed to explore mental illness microaggressions by examining the view of the committer (i.e., the person enacting the microaggression), the role specific prejudicial beliefs (i.e., <i>authoritarianism, social restrictiveness, benevolence</i>) play in microaggressive behavior, and whether level of intimacy of interpersonal contact is related to reduced mental illness microaggressions. Participants for this study were recruited using Amazon&rsquo;s Mechanical Turk; they completed a series of questionnaires and were compensated for their work. Results indicated there is a positive relationship between the likelihood of mental illness microaggression perpetration and the prejudicial beliefs <i>authoritarianism</i> and <i> social restrictiveness</i> while there is an inverse relationship between mental illness microaggression enactment and the prejudicial belief <i> benevolence.</i> This study determined that social restrictiveness accounts for the most variance when predicting potential perpetration of mental illness microaggressions. Additionally, results of this study determined there is a negative relationship between mental illness microaggression enactment and level of intimacy of interpersonal contact with mentally ill individuals, suggesting that interpersonal contact may be an effective strategy for reducing mental illness microaggressions.</p>