Tatsuya Imai

Influences of Mental Illness Stigma on Perceptions of and Responses to Requests for Favors

ABSTRACT This article examines mental illness stigma effects on a request for a favor from a mentally ill individual. Four hundred and fourteen participants interacted with a hypothetical target on Facebook who was believed to have schizophrenia, depression, or a tooth cavity (i.e., the control group). Participants were asked to rate the favor request in terms of face threat, in addition to writing a response, which was then coded using message design logics. Results indicated that a request by a schizophrenic target threatened participants’ positive face more significantly than that of a target with depression or without any mental illness. Participants’ responses to the schizophrenic target were more likely to be conventional messages, whereas responses to the depressed target were more likely to be rhetorical messages. Theoretical and practical contributions are considered.

How You See Us Hurts Me! Influences of Metastereotypes That International Students Hold on Their Self-disclosure, Loneliness and Depression

Abstract This article examines the influences of international students’ beliefs of how their compatriots are evaluated by host nationals (i.e. metastereotypes). Modified labeling theory was used to predict how international students’ metastereotypes are associated with their self-disclosure, loneliness, and depression. One hundred and forty-six international students in Japan were asked to rate their metastereotypes, amount of self-disclosure, loneliness, and depression. The results showed that metastereotypes were positively associated with the amount of self-disclosure and negatively associated with loneliness and depression. A structural equation model further indicated that metastereotypes were indirectly associated with depression through loneliness. Theoretical and practical contributions are considered.