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Vertical individualism orientations and mental health stigma: the mediating role of belief in free will

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Abstract

Even though the stigma related to mental health is widespread, stigma related to suicide and substance use are less researched areas. This study investigates whether belief in free will mediates the association between vertical individualism and stigma against those who use substances or attempt suicide. Turkish adult participants (n = 200, Mage = 29.8, SD = 11.9) completed self-report measures of cultural orientation, belief in free will, substance use stigma, and suicide stigma. Results revealed that individuals’ belief in free will mediates the association of vertical individualism with both suicide and substance use stigma. This suggests that free will belief may be one of the ways in which cultural orientations are linked to stigma. These results can contribute to the design of sophisticated stigma reduction interventions that take into account belief in free will and cultural orientation.

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Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

Hazal Ozkok was funded by the National Scholarship Programme for Master's Students by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) (no grant number). This study was also supported by the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health. Funders did not influence the research and manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Burcu H. Tatar and Hazal Ozkok contributed equally to this manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Burcu H. Tatar

  2. Department of Psychology, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Hazal Ozkok & Bulent Turan

  3. Department of Psychology, Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ayse Altan-Atalay

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  1. Burcu H. Tatar
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  2. Hazal Ozkok
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  3. Ayse Altan-Atalay
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  4. Bulent Turan
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Contributions

All authors were involved in conceptualizing this study. HO, BHT, and BT designed the study and collected data. BHT and BT analyzed data. HO, BHT, and TNA wrote the first draft of the manuscript. AAA reviewed, edited, revised the manuscript, and wrote the discussion section. All authors contributed to and approved the final draft of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Burcu H. Tatar.

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The questionnaire and methodology for this study was approved by the Committee on Human Research at Koç University (2020.202.IRB3.082).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Tatar, B.H., Ozkok, H., Altan-Atalay, A. et al. Vertical individualism orientations and mental health stigma: the mediating role of belief in free will. Curr Psychol 43, 11663–11672 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05285-7

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