Center for Public Mental Health, Untere Zeile 13, 3482, Gösing am Wagram, Austria,
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013 Oct;48(10):1667-73. doi: 10.1007/s00127-012-0648-9. Epub 2013 Jan 8.
It has been assumed that biogenetic causal models may improve public attitudes toward people with mental illnesses. The present study examines whether biogenetic attributions are positively associated with acceptance of people suffering from these disorders.
Population surveys were conducted in two large German cities. Respondents were presented with a vignette depicting a young female suffering from either anorexia nervosa (N = 680) or bulimia nervosa (N = 667), followed by a fully structured interview including questions on causal attributions, emotional reactions and desire for social distance.
Attribution to hereditary factors showed hardly any relationship with attitudes toward people with symptoms of eating disorders. Respondents who endorsed brain disease as a cause tended more to hold those afflicted responsible for their condition, they also expressed more negative emotions and a stronger preference for social distance.
Our results do not support the notion that promulgating biogenetic causal models of eating disorders helps decrease the stigma surrounding these illnesses; it may even entail the risk of increasing it.
人们认为生物遗传因果模型可能会改善公众对精神疾病患者的态度。本研究考察了生物遗传归因是否与对患有这些疾病的人的接受程度呈正相关。
在德国的两个大城市进行了人口调查。向受访者展示了一个描述一位患有神经性厌食症（N = 680）或神经性贪食症（N = 667）年轻女性的小插图，然后进行了一项全面的结构化访谈，其中包括有关因果归因、情绪反应和社会距离愿望的问题。
遗传因素的归因与对饮食障碍患者的态度几乎没有关系。将大脑疾病视为病因的受访者更倾向于认为患病者应对其状况负责，他们也表达了更多的负面情绪和更强的社会距离偏好。
我们的结果不支持这样一种观点，即宣传饮食障碍的生物遗传因果模型有助于减少这些疾病的污名化；它甚至可能增加这种风险。
