Economic system justification predicts stigmatization of mental illness in the United States

Abstract

Mental illness stigma remains persistent despite prominent public campaigns to combat it. We propose that system justification theory, which posits that people are motivated to see current institutions and arrangements as fair and legitimate, can help explain the near-universal stigmatization of mental illness. To investigate system justification and mental illness stigma, we conducted three studies comprising survey and experimental methods (total N = 1,514). In two surveys, including a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults, the tendency to view the current economic system as fair and legitimate was the strongest and most consistent unique predictor of stigmatizing responses across a wide range of measures. In an experiment, we manipulated the economic positioning of vignette characters meeting the diagnostic criteria for depression and social phobia. Participants’ responses were more stigmatizing when the character’s position in the economic system was low (vs. high), operationalized in terms of income. The findings support previous suggestions that system-justifying beliefs are relevant for mental illness stigma and indicate that reactions to mental illness are usefully seen in light of attitudes toward the social and economic system.