von Hippel Courtney, Henry Julie D, Terrett Gill, Mercuri Kimberly, McAlear Karen, Rendell Peter G
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
Cognitive and Emotion Research Centre, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Br J Clin Psychol. 2017 Jun;56(2):160-171. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12128. Epub 2017 Jan 10.
People with a history of substance abuse are subject to widespread stigmatization. It seems likely that this societal disapproval will result in feelings of stereotype threat, or the belief that one is the target of demeaning stereotypes. If so, stereotype threat has the potential to contribute to functional difficulties including poor social outcomes.
Eighty drug users on opioid substitution therapy and 84 demographically matched controls completed measures of mental health and social function. The opioid substitution therapy group were additionally asked to complete a measure that focused on their feelings of stereotype threat in relation to their drug use history. Bivariate correlations and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to establish the magnitude and specificity of the relationship between stereotype threat and social functioning.
Relative to controls, the opioid substitution therapy group reported higher levels of negative affect and schizotypy, and poorer social functioning, with all three of these indices significantly correlated with their feelings of stereotype threat. The results also showed that stereotype threat contributed significant unique variance to social functioning in the opioid substitution therapy group, even after taking into account other background, clinical, and mental health variables.
Social functioning is an important aspect of recovery, yet these data indicate that people with a history of drug abuse who believe they are the target of stereotypical attitudes have poorer social functioning. This relationship holds after controlling for the impact of other variables on social functioning, including mental health. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Concerns about being stereotyped can shape the social experiences of opioid substitution therapy patients. Opioid substitution therapy patients who feel negatively stereotyped experience greater social function deficits, and this relationship emerges after controlling for important clinical and mental health variables. Understanding the relationship between feeling stereotyped and social function may assist practitioners in their treatment. The study is cross-sectional, and thus, experimental or longitudinal research is required to determine the causal direction between stereotype threat and social function.
有药物滥用史的人受到广泛的污名化。这种社会不认可很可能导致刻板印象威胁感，即认为自己是贬低性刻板印象的目标。如果是这样，刻板印象威胁有可能导致功能困难，包括不良的社会结果。
80名接受阿片类药物替代疗法的吸毒者和84名人口统计学匹配的对照组完成了心理健康和社会功能测量。阿片类药物替代疗法组还被要求完成一项侧重于他们对吸毒史的刻板印象威胁感的测量。进行双变量相关性和层次回归分析，以确定刻板印象威胁与社会功能之间关系的大小和特异性。
与对照组相比，阿片类药物替代疗法组报告的消极情绪和精神分裂症特征水平更高，社会功能更差，这三个指标均与他们的刻板印象威胁感显著相关。结果还表明，即使在考虑了其他背景、临床和心理健康变量后，刻板印象威胁在阿片类药物替代疗法组的社会功能中仍贡献了显著的独特方差。
社会功能是康复的一个重要方面，但这些数据表明，有药物滥用史且认为自己是刻板态度目标的人社会功能较差。在控制了其他变量对社会功能（包括心理健康）的影响后，这种关系依然成立。讨论了这些发现的理论和实际意义。
对被刻板化的担忧会影响阿片类药物替代疗法患者的社会体验。感到受到负面刻板印象的阿片类药物替代疗法患者经历更大的社会功能缺陷，并且这种关系在控制了重要的临床和心理健康变量后出现。理解被刻板化的感觉与社会功能之间的关系可能有助于从业者进行治疗。该研究是横断面研究，因此需要实验或纵向研究来确定刻板印象威胁与社会功能之间的因果方向。
