Social Capital and Stigma Toward People with Mental Illness in Tokyo, Japan
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BRIEF REPORT
Social Capital and Stigma Toward People with Mental Illness in Tokyo, Japan Yoshifumi Kido • Norito Kawakami • Yuki Miyamoto • Rie Chiba • Masao Tsuchiya
Received: 6 January 2011 / Accepted: 18 September 2012 / Published online: 29 September 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
Abstract Living in a community with high social capital might lead to lower stigma towards people with mental illness. We examined the association between social capital and stigma toward people with mental illness in the community of Tokyo, Japan. A random sample of 2,000 community residents was selected and surveyed. Data from 516 respondents were analyzed. In this study, two individualbased social capital variables were significantly and negatively associated with the stigma score, while area-based social capital was not significantly associated with the stigma score. Social capital, particularly reciprocity/norm of cooperation and trust in the community, may be associated with lower stigma.
Y. Kido (&) Y. Miyamoto Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan e-mail: [email protected] Y. Kido Department of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, St. Luke’s College of Nursing, 10-1 Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0044, Japan N. Kawakami Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan R. Chiba School of Nursing, Jichi Medical University, 3311-159 Yakushiji, Shimotsuke-shi, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan M. Tsuchiya National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 6-21-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 214-8585, Japan
Keywords Social capital Stigma of mental illness Link’s devaluation-discrimination scale
Introduction Stigma toward people with mental illness is a ‘‘collection of negative attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors that influence the individual, or the general public, to fear, reject, avoid, be prejudiced, and discriminate people’’ (Gary 2005), and is known as a serious barrier for achieving life goals in people with mental illness. Stigma interferes with mental health treatment seeking, diminishes self-esteem, and limits one’s social network and employment opportunities among people with mental illness (Corrigan 2004). Studies have suggested that stigma toward people with mental illness in the general population is affected by several factors, such as sex, age, socio-economic status, knowledge about mental illness, and contact or familiarity with persons with mental illness (Schnittker 2000; Lauber et al. 2004; Link and Cullen 1986; Corrigan et al. 2003). In addition to these individual-level factors, stigma is also affected by community characteristics, since stigma is often based on the norms of a social unit, i.e., a shared belief that a person ought to behave in a certain way at a certain time (Stafford and Scott 1986; Yang et al. 2007). Communities, neighborhoods, or organizations are believed to play an imp
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