Understanding explanatory mechanisms for racial and ethnic differences in mental health stigma: the role of vertical individualism and right-wing authoritarianism.

Background: Mental health (MH) stigma is pervasive worldwide. Culturally sensitive stigma reduction programs are needed to reduce MH stigma.

Aims: To determine racial/ethnic and cultural predictors of stigma.

Method: The current study examined the relationship between cultural orientation (individualism-collectivism beliefs), race/ethnicity, and political beliefs (right-wing authoritarianism [RWA]). Participants ( = 951) from the United States completed an online survey for this cross-sectional study.

Results: Findings indicated that vertical individualism is a consistent, though modest, predictor of multiple dimensions of MH stigma, controlling for other predictors. Contrary to what was hypothesized, vertical individualism did not mediate the relationship between Asian-American race/ethnicity and MH stigma, but was found to mediate the relationship between RWA and stigma. A novel finding was that RWA mediated the relationship between African-American race/ethnicity and multiple MH stigma domains.

Conclusions: Findings therefore indicate that the endorsement of authoritarian views, rather than vertical-individualism (which advances the idea that everyone is in competition), is the primary mechanism of MH stigma differences between African-Americans and individuals from other racial/ethnic groups. A major implication from this study is that efforts to address MH stigma among specific cultural groups should incorporate a sensitivity to the role of both RWA and vertical individualism in facilitating stigma.