Norms and Attitudes about Being an Active Bystander: Support for Telling Adults about Seeing Knives or Guns at School among Greater London Youth

Personal and perceived public stigma toward students seeking help for alcohol use among undergraduate students in the southeastern United States

Objective: Stigma is a known barrier to seeking behavioral health support and treatment. This study assesses college students' stigma toward students seeking help for alcohol use. Participants: 237 students from a diverse major at a private university in the southeastern United States. Method: Respondents reported personal stigma and public stigma (i.e., the estimated prevalence of personal stigma among peers). We compared public stigma estimates with the prevalence of respondents' personal stigma. Logistic regression models were fit to estimate correlates of overestimating public stigma. Results: More than 70% overestimated public stigma. Estimates from regression models indicated that consuming alcohol 3+ days per week (aOR = 4.63; 95% CI 1.39-15.41; p = 0.012) and personal stigma (aOR = 14.06; 95% CI 3.64-54.36; p < 0.001) were associated with overestimating public stigma. Conclusions: Students overestimated public stigma toward students seeking help for alcohol use. Future research should assess whether correcting overestimates increases help-seeking for alcohol use.

Sociodemographic and gun possession factors contributing to gun policy attitudes among undergraduate students

ObjectiveExamine the sociodemographic and gun possession factors associated with gun policy attitudes among undergraduates.MethodsUndergraduates at a west coast university (N = 1,474) completed a questionnaire with measures of country of birth, political ideology, gender identity, gun possession at one's own residence, friends' and family's gun possession, and attitudes about concealed carry, ban on assault weapons, and guns at home.ResultsParticipants born outside of the United States are likely to oppose all types of gun policies; the effects of gender identity and political ideology are consistent with existing research, with conservatism supporting policies that make more guns available, and female and gender-identity-minority participants opposing them; and the effects of gun possession are not fully consistent with existing research.ConclusionMore research is needed to reconcile the results. University administrators may employ this study's main takeaways to tailor programs for foreign-born students, female students, and politically motivated students.

Normative vs personal attitudes toward persons with HIV, and the mediating role of perceived HIV stigma in rural Uganda

BACKGROUND

HIV stigma has well-documented negative impacts on HIV testing, transmission risk behavior, initiation of and adherence to antiretroviral therapy, and retention in care. We sought to assess the extent to which anticipated HIV stigma is based on misperceptions of normative attitudes toward persons with HIV, and to determine whether persons with HIV have stronger misperceptions compared with HIV-negative persons or persons of unknown serostatus. We also sought to estimate the association between normative attitudes about persons with HIV and personal attitudes about persons with HIV, and to determine the extent to which anticipated stigma mediates this association.

METHODS

We conducted a whole-population survey of 1776 persons living in 8 rural villages in southwestern Uganda. Negative attitudes toward persons with HIV, and anticipated stigma, were measured using a newly validated 15-item scale measuring multiple dimensions of HIV stigma, including social distance, blaming attitudes, and concerns about reciprocity. We used multivariable regression to estimate the association between normative attitudes about persons with HIV and personal attitudes toward persons with HIV, and to determine the extent to which perceptions of normative attitudes (anticipated stigma) mediated this association.

RESULTS

Study participants believed that negative attitudes toward persons with HIV were more pervasive than they actually are. Perceptions of the extent to which these negative attitudes are normative mediated more than one-third of the association between normative attitudes and their personal attitudes. In contrast to what we originally hypothesized, persons with HIV were less likely to misperceive these norms and perceived normative attitudes to be less stigmatizing than did others in the general population.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions designed to accurately describe normative attitudes toward persons with HIV may reduce HIV stigma without directly focusing on the educational components that are typically embedded in anti-stigma interventions.