An integrated understanding of the mechanisms linking social stigma to mental health among marginalized populations

Abstract

This Perspective presents a model that integrates mechanisms that explain the association between stigma and mental health that are shared across multiple stigmatized populations. By distinguishing among mediating, protective and intensifying factors, the model can be used to achieve two broad aims: to understand the similarities and differences in common and/or comparable mechanisms that explain the effect of stigma on mental health; and to understand how mechanisms linking stigma to mental health are experienced by individuals at the intersection of multiple stigmatized statuses. Applications and opportunities for new research within and across a variety of stigmatized populations are discussed in relation to these aims. In this Perspective, the authors present an integrative model aimed at understanding and explaining the mechanisms that account for the impact of stigma on the mental health of multiple marginalized populations.