Multiple Stigmas and Their Dimensions: The Mediating Role of Self-compassion in Reduced Resilience

Abstract

While possessing multiple stigmas is a common experience, research using a systematic method on this topic to quantify the total number of stigmas and their dimensions is very limited. The purpose of the current research is to examine the number and dimensions of multiple stigmas that university students experience and, moreover, to investigate whether self-compassion mediates the negative effect of multiple stigmas on resilience. Three studies (study 1: n = 476, study 2: n = 443, study 3: n = 321) were conducted in northern and southern locations of Appalachian United States, in which participants reported on their experience with multiple stigmas, self-compassion, and resilience. Depression, obesity, and poverty were the most frequently reported stigmas. Aligned with the hypotheses, the total number of multiple stigmas predicted lower resilience that was mediated by reduced self-compassion. Furthermore, after quantifying the six dimensions of stigma (disruptiveness, origin, visibility, peril, aesthetics, and persistence; Jones et al., 1984) with the taxonomy developed by Pachankis et al. (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44:451–474, 2018), our results clarified that the disruptiveness of stigma consistently predicted lower resilience, mediated by weakened self-compassion. Other dimensions had significant but less consistent relationships with resilience and self-compassion. These results contribute to the literature on multiple stigmas and thereby their associations with outcomes such as resilience. The important mediating role of self-compassion is also highlighted and underscores an important pathway between multiple stigmas and resilience, which informs our discussion on the implications for the design of prevention and intervention programs on university campuses.