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Abstract
Background
Essentialist theory (ET) links biological attributions for mental illnesses to pessimistic prognostic beliefs and stigma. The commonsense model (CSM) provides a nuanced framework for studying illness beliefs as shaped by experience.
Aims
ET-informed hypotheses linking causal and prognostic beliefs and stigmatizing attitudes concerning depression were tested using CSM constructs with a focus on the moderating effects of self-reported experience with this disorder.
Methods
U.S. adults (N = 319) completed online questionnaires assessing depression-related beliefs, attitudes and experience. Multiple regression analysis focused on predictive effects of neurobiological and genetic attributions. Potential mediators (prognosis) and moderators (experience) of the biological attribution-stigma link also were tested.
Results
Neurobiological attributions predicted viewing depression as more consequential, longer lasting, and unexpectedly, more treatable. Neurobiological attributions were inversely related to stigma, a link partially mediated by beliefs about depression’s consequences and duration. However, both biological attributions’ relationships to stigma were moderated by experience. Stronger biological attributions predicted less stigma specifically among participants reporting first- or second-hand experience with depression.
Conclusion
Experience with depression may shape the relationships of specific causal and prognostic beliefs with depression stigma. Psychoeducation in clinical and public health contexts may be informed by further research using CSM constructs.
Disclosure statement
The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to report.
Data availability
The data that support this study’s findings are available from the corresponding author, SLM, for a specified purpose upon reasonable request.