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Mental-health-related stigma affects help-seeking behavior and service utilization among young people. Whether mental-health-related stigma is different or correlated between parents and their children is unknown. It is also unknown whether the name change of schizophrenia in 2002 has had long-term effects on reducing stigma for adults in the general population.We recruited 143 parent-child pairs (mean ages [SD]: 51.5 [3.6] and 21.2 [1.2] years, respectively) to complete self-report questionnaires regarding mental-health-related stigma and experience. We also assessed negative stereotypes for three psychiatric disease names (old and new names of schizophrenia, and depression), and for diabetes mellitus as a physical illness comparison. The questionnaires also asked respondents to identify the old and new names of schizophrenia and dementia, respectively, among 10 names for mental and physical illnesses and conditions.Parents showed lower stigma levels toward mental illness and diabetes mellitus, but similar or greater stigma levels toward schizophrenia, compared with their children. Stigma levels toward mental illness in parents and their children were significantly correlated. The rate of correct identification of the old and new names for schizophrenia was higher in parents than in their children (64.7% vs 41.4%, P 0.001). Parents who responded correctly endorsed more negative stereotypes toward the new name of schizophrenia compared with those who responded incorrectly (P = 0.049).The present findings suggest that stigma toward mental illness is shared between family members, and the name change of schizophrenia has effectively reduced stigma levels toward this disorder in adults of various ages.

The Reported and Intended Behaviour Scale (RIBS) was developed in the U.K. to measure mental health-related behavior. The current study aimed to evaluate the applicability, and reliability of a Japanese version of the RIBS (RIBS-J) in a Japanese context, and further examine the construct validity of the RIBS-J.The sample included 224 undergraduate and postgraduate students at a Japanese university. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess internal consistency. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to examine the divergent validity between the RIBS-J and the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule and the convergent validity between the second subscale of the RIBS-J and Japanese version of the Social Distance Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis assessed the goodness of model fit of the RIBS-J. We also examined test-retest reliability with another undergraduate sample (n = 29).Most items exhibited no floor/ceiling effect. High internal consistency (α = 0.83) was reported. The second subscale of the RIBS-J, measuring intended behavior, correlated with the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (r = 0.33, P 0.001) and the Japanese version of the Social Distance Scale (r = -0.60, P 0.001). In addition, confirmatory factor analysis found good model fit for the RIBS-J (χ2 = 41.001, d.f. = 19, P = 0.002, goodness-of-fit index = 0.956, adjusted goodness-of-fit index = 0.916, comparative fit index = 0.955, root mean square error of approximation = 0.072). Overall test-retest reliability (ρc) was 0.71.The RIBS-J is an appropriate and psychometrically robust measure of behavior towards individuals with mental health problems in Japan. Further studies using a community sample could assess the generalizability of our findings.