Effects of stigma, message valence and virality, and audience characteristics on the persuasiveness of anti-stigma messages via social media

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Date
2015
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University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

A major obstacle to public health is social stigma toward people with mental illnesses. Research on social media-based stigma-mitigation interventions lags behind the medical community's acknowledgment of the seriousness of mental illness stigma. This dissertation examined the impact of social media-delivered anti-stigma messages about mental illness. In particular, the study investigated the impact of a message feature factor (message valence) and a social media interface cue (virality), as well as an individual factor (stigma-related audience segment) on participants' perceived message credibility, as well as attitude and behavioral intention. Participants showed significantly more stigmatizing attitudes toward schizophrenia than toward depression. Built on Goffman's (1963) and Smith's (2012) taxonomy of audience categories, among the 265 participants used for this analysis, only three audience segments exist with regard to the stigma toward depression (stigmatized, active supporters, and passive supporters), whereas four audience segments exist with regard to the stigma toward schizophrenia (stigmatizers, stigmatized, active supporters, and passive supporters). A series of hypotheses and research questions related to message valence and virality were proposed based on two classic dual-process theories of persuasion (i.e., the ELM and HSM) and a recent theory about online information processing and decision making (i.e., the MAIN model). Surprisingly, both message valence and virality had no significant effect on any of the dependent variables, nor on the interactions between them. In addition, it was found that stigma-related audience segment is a significant predictor of post-exposure attitude toward mental illness. Active supporters had more favorable attitudes toward the message, rated the source/content of the message as more credible, and reported higher viral behavioral intentions (VBI) to like and share (both online/off-line) the message. Participants who read anti-stigma messages about depression reported higher intentions to "Share" the messages, and the correlations between message evaluation variables and viral behavioral intentions (VBIs) were always stronger for the stimulus about depression than for the stimulus about schizophrenia. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Keywords
Communication
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