Gender Attitudes Towards Mental Illness

“Stigma was, for me, the most agonizing aspect of my disorder. It cost friendships, career opportunities, and most importantly my self-esteem. It wasn’t long before I began internalizing the attitudes of others, viewing myself as a lesser person.” That is a quote from Scott Simmie, a Canadian journalist, whose struggle with being stigmatized for being diagnosed with a mental illness is all too common. In a given year, one out of every four American adults will suffer from a mental illness. Therefore, it would be logical to hypothesize that you or someone you love may be affected by mental illness at some point in your or his or her lifetime. A meta-synthesis of 144 quantitative and qualitative studies consisting of 90,189 participants …show more content…
I am studying the effect gender has on attitudes toward mental illness. My dependent variable is attitudes towards mental illness and my independent variable is gender. My supporting independent variables include the highest level of education completed by parents, ethnicity, family history of mental illness, and having a loved one that has been diagnosed with a mental illness. By gender I mean, the identity of being male, female, or other, that one feels they belong to, this is not limited to one’s biological sex, rather the characteristics of being male and female that are defined by society. By the mentally illness, I mean Psychotic Disorders which include Schizophrenia, Schizophreniform Disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder, Shared Psychotic Disorder and Delusional Disorder. Mood Disorders which include Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Anxiety Disorders which include Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Personality Disorders which include Schizoid Personality Disorder, Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, Dependent Personality Disorder and Avoidant Personality …show more content…
By college students I mean, individuals that are currently attending a higher education institution pursuing an academic degree. I will administer a minimum of 40 surveys all together to a minimum of 20 subjects that identify as male and a minimum of 20 subjects that identify as female. On Wednesday, March 23, 2016 I will be administering my survey to Montclair State University students that are attending Professor Vikash Singh’s SOCI201 Racial and Ethnic Relations class. I specifically picked this class because out of all the classes I have taken at Montclair State University, this class had the largest ethnic diversity among students, therefore, I anticipate the students in this class to have ethnic diversity which will result in a well-rounded group of