CCSR - Stigma and Behavioral Health in Urban Employers from China and the United States

Stigma and Behavioral Health in Urban Employers from China and the United States

Abstract & Stages
Theoretical Review and Models
1. Behaviorally-Driven Health Conditions and Causal Attribution
2. Behaviorally-driven Health Conditions and Dangerousness
3. Cross-Cultural Differences
4. References
Researchers & Acknowledgements

Abstract & Stages

This project will involve a collaborative endeavor between scholars from the United States and the People's Republic of China to study the effects of stigma associated with behaviorally-driven health disorders on employment-related discrimination. People with three such disorders will be the focus of this study: psychotic disorders, alcohol abuse disorders, and HIV/AIDS. The study will examine the attitudes and behaviors of employers using probability samples at three urban sites: Chicago, Beijing, and Hong Kong. Central research questions include why employers endorse stigmatizing beliefs about these disorders, how these attitudes result in withholding work opportunities, and how social and political variables mitigate employer attitudes and actions. First, intensive qualitative interviews will be conducted with a diverse sample of employers at three sites (N =60, 20/city) to explore the relevant attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors related to hiring people with behavioral health conditions. Results from this study will help inform a survey-based quantitative study, which will test social cognitive models of employer perceptions of people with behaviorally-driven health conditions using a vignette assessment strategy and factorial survey design (N =900, 300/city). This will include examination of employer attributions of causal responsibility for the disorder; attributions about the stability and recoverability of the disorder; concerns about dangerousness; concerns about incompetence; and concerns about contagion. Finally, the effects of socio-cultural factors (e.g. individualist vs. collectivist cultural orientation) on employer attitudes and behavior vis-à-vis people with health related conditions will be examined. Data from this study will be especially important for the development of future stigma-change programs.

STAGE 1
Stage 1 will consist of a qualitative investigation of the relevant attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors related to hiring people with behaviorally-driven health conditions in the United States and China. Intensive interviews will be conducted with a diverse sample of employers in Chicago, Hong Kong, and Beijing (N =60) to confirm and extend the existing social cognitive and socio-cultural models under study in Stage 2. Although these existing models have strong empirical support, we are beginning the study with an inductive approach so that we identify unforeseen factors that might explain employer decision-making processes vis-a-vis people with behaviorally-driven health conditions.

STAGE 2
Using quantitative survey methods, the second aim is to test SOCIAL COGNITIVE models on employer perceptions of people with behaviorally-driven health conditions in China and the United States. Using a vignette assessment strategy and factorial survey design, we will compare and contrast social cognitive constructs that describe stigma in probability samples representing employers (300/city). Although the qualitative study may identify other important concepts to be included in the quantitative survey, at this point we will examine the impact of three sets of social cognitive variables prominent in Chinese and American research about the stigma of behaviorally-driven health conditions: