Measuring Trivialization of Mental Illness: Developing a Scale of Perceptions that Mental Illness Symptoms are Beneficial.

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  • Author(s): Pavelko RL;Pavelko RL; Myrick JG; Myrick JG
  • Source:
    Health communication [Health Commun] 2020 May; Vol. 35 (5), pp. 576-584. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Feb 05.
  • Publication Type:
    Journal Article
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8908762 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1532-7027 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10410236 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Health Commun Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: [London] : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
      Original Publication: Hillsdale, N.J. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, c1989-
    • Subject Terms:
      Mass Media*/statistics & numerical data ; Mental Disorders*/psychology ; Stereotyping*; Humans
    • Abstract:
      Much of the extant research on representations of mental illness in the media have focused on stigmatization. The negative effects of these stigmatizing portrayals on individuals with mental illness are serious. However, recent scholarship has identified another phenomenon in the mediated portrayal of mental illness whereby these conditions are trivialized. As opposed to stigmatizing portrayals that make people with mental illness seem violent and incompetent, media portrayals that trivialize mental illnesses often treat the symptoms of these conditions (e.g., organizational ability for people with obsessive compulsive disorder or high energy levels for people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) as benefits, thereby diminishing the seriousness of these conditions. The aim of the present study was to develop a reliable and valid scale for assessing how individuals perceive symptoms of mental illnesses as benefits (and, thereby, trivialize these illnesses). Results across three studies support the existence of a reliable and valid measure whereby symptoms demark individuals with a mental illness as receiving a benefit. By establishing this scale, researchers will be better suited to assess the potential intersections and interaction of processes related to mental illness trivialization and stigmatization, both through media portrayals and through everyday interactions.
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20190206 Date Completed: 20210609 Latest Revision: 20210609
    • Publication Date:
      20240628
    • Accession Number:
      10.1080/10410236.2019.1573296
    • Accession Number:
      30720347