Genes, Disease and Stigma: A Study of Public Attitudes and Beliefs

Stigma and discrimination are recognized as potentially important social consequences of advances in genetic information. This broadly conceived study of stigma will focus on public attitudes, behavioral intentions and policy orientations. Specifically, the study will examine the impact of perceived genetic etiology on orientations toward individuals and families affected by mental illnesses. The investigators will use a multi-method research plan that includes in-depth interviews with 100 adults from 5 ethnic groups (African-, Chinese-, European-, Mexican- and Puerto-Rican-Americans) and a random-digit-dial telephone survey of the adult U.S. population, with oversamples of each of the above minority ethnic groups, as well as of persons whose families are affected by a serious mental-illness, to address the following aims:
-to assess the impact of an attributed genetic etiology on orientations toward individuals and families affected by a serious mental illness;
-to determine the characteristics of respondents (e.g., education, age, or ethnicity) that are associated with more stigmatizing attitudes and orientations;
-to examine types of information that may ameliorate any stigmatizing effects of perceived genetic etiology; and
-to assess experiences of stigma on the part of families affected my mental illness and their perceptions of the way knowledge of genetic etiology may impact the stigma they face.