Social stigma towards mental illness: Related factors and psychometric properties of the revised-attribution questionnaire

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the internal structure of the revised-Attribution Questionnaire Spanish version (r-AQ-E) to assess social stigma towards mental illness in adolescents, as well as, to investigate its relationship with age, familiarity, and knowledge about mental illness. The sample was composed by 861 adolescents, aged between 12 and 16 yearsold (M = 13.91; SD = 1.22). The Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses did not replicate the original structure of the r-AQ-E, but fitted a unidimensional structure with 5 items and adequate internal consistence. Results evidenced that boys showed more stigma than girls. In both groups, levels of stigma were not significantly different between the age of 12 and 15, being lower at 16. Social stigma was related with familiarity and knowledge about characteristics, prevalence, and causes of mental illness. These findings highlight the need to implement interventions to reduce stigma by improving the knowledge about mental illness and offering opportunities of direct contact.