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Recent evidence suggests that peer contact may reduce self-stigma in people with mental illness as intergroup contact does public stigma. Specifically, it has been hypothesized that contact with peers who disconfirm stereotypes, compared to confirming stereotypes, may be most effective. Other characteristics of peers and individual’s interactions may also moderate this relationship, such as similarity in mental health concerns; the context, content, and valence of interactions; and the closeness of the relationship between peers. In total, 1,100 Australian adults with mental illness completed an online survey evaluating the frequency of peer contact and the characteristics of participants’ most frequent interactions. Consistent with previous research, there was a significant negative relationship between peer contact and self-stigma. Notably, this was stronger when peers were perceived as less similar and less close to participants. The other examined characteristics did not appear to influence the strength of this relationship, although they correlated with self-stigma in noteworthy ways. These results may inform an expansion of the intergroup contact hypothesis into internalized stigma. They may also support the deployment of existing intergroup contact interventions to reduce self-stigma, which may be less threatening to people with mental illness compared to existing interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated how adolescents' loneliness relates to school connectedness, classmate support, teacher support, and offline and online communication with friends. We also examined the association between loneliness, physical health, and sleep. Data came from the Scottish Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC). The total sample was 2983 adolescents (F = 1479 [49.6%]) aged 14–17 years (M = 15.66, SD = 0.39) from 117 secondary schools in Scotland. Results showed that (1) higher teacher support, classmate support, and offline contact with friends predicted lower levels of loneliness, (2) online friendship engagement predicted higher levels of loneliness, and (3) poor health and sleep were positively associated with loneliness. The study offers new findings, highlighting the role played by classmates/peers and teachers in reducing loneliness. Supporting previous research, we also found associations between loneliness, poor sleep, and worse physical health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IntroductionAdolescence is a dynamic developmental phase in which contact with peers is crucial for socio-emotional development and wellbeing. Depression and social anxiety show patterns of high onset during this period, and more for girls than boys. Here we examine this development among Dutch adolescents, as well as how desire for more peer contact as a result of social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to this increase.MethodsWe used a longitudinal three-wave design to examine 406 typically developing Dutch adolescents across two consecutive cohorts; Cohort 1: 2016–2019 (N = 138, 53.6% girls, age at T0 M = 13.00, SD = 0.42), Cohort 2: 2017–2020 (N = 268, 63.1% girls, age at T0 M = 13.05, SD = 0.39), final wave during spring 2020 during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure depression and social anxiety symptoms, desire for change in the amount of peer contact during lockdowns, and emotion regulation. Parallel process dual latent growth models and autoregressive cross-lagged models were used to test the hypotheses.ResultsResults showed that symptoms of both depression and social anxiety increase during adolescence. Gender analysis reveal a higher initial level and increase in depression symptoms for girls, while levels for boys decreased. Adolescents exposed to the pandemic showed a steeper increase in depression but not in social anxiety. Desire for more peer contact was related to an increase in depression and social anxiety, though only in girls. No evidence was found for moderation of emotion regulation skills concerning COVID evoked emotions on the association between desire for peer contact and anxiety and depression symptom development.DiscussionSymptoms of social anxiety increased during adolescence in boys and girls. Symptoms of depression increased for girls, but decreased for boys. The increase in depression was greater in a cohort who experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. For girls, a desire for more peer contact was associated with an increase of depression and social anxiety symptoms in times of social restrictions.

Public and self- mental health stigma have deleterious effects on the lives of people with mental illness (PWMI). Researchers have developed multiple interventions to reduce public stigma against this group, but little attention has been given to reducing self-stigma in spite of its closer association with adverse outcomes. There is some preliminary evidence suggesting that a strategy commonly used to address public stigma – contact with PWMI – may also reduce self-stigma in people with mental illness. However, the limitations of these studies necessitate a more rigorous examination. While overcoming the limitations of previous studies, we aimed to determine whether peer contact could represent an effective strategy for reducing self-stigma in PWMI. We recruited 991 participants with mental illness who reported their frequency of contact with other PWMI, frequency of contact with people without mental illness, self-stigma (the degree to which participants agreed with and applied common stereotypes about mental illness to themselves), and harm to self-respect, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. We tested a serial mediation model controlling for contact with people without mental illness. Consistent with hypotheses, more frequent peer contact was associated with reduced harm to self-respect and higher self-esteem and self-efficacy through lower agreement with stereotypes and lower self-application of stereotypes. The results suggest that peer contact may represent a viable strategy for reducing self-stigma and improving self-concept in PWMI. This substantially expands the usefulness of existing intergroup contact strategies and supports the development of an alternative, non-clinical intervention for reducing self-stigma. Future research should clarify the direction of the effect and investigate the nature of peer interactions in order to inform interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Self-stigma exerts a range of adversities for persons with severe mental illness (SMI), however, little is known about the association between peer contact, social support and self-stigma. Aims: This study aimed to explore the mediating role of social support on the relationship between peer contact and self-stigma among persons with SMI in Hong Kong. Methods: A total of 159 persons with SMI (schizophrenia and mood disorder) in community service centres participated in the study through completing a survey on self-stigma, social functioning, social support, perception of peer contact and mass media. Logistic regression was utilised to explore the influencing factors of self-stigma among the participants. Results: The results showed that 81.1% of participants reported moderate to severe levels of self-stigma. Self-stigma was significantly associated with diverse factors (e.g. social functioning). Importantly, positive peer contact was significantly associated with lower self-stigma of persons with SMI. Social support acted as a mediator between peer contact and self-stigma. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that contact-based interventions, such as enhancing positive peer-to-peer contact, should be conducted for reducing self-stigma among persons with SMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundMental health patients can experience involuntary treatment as disempowering and stigmatising, and contact with recovered peers is cited as important for countering stigma and fostering agency and autonomy integral to recovery.AimsTo advance understanding of the interaction between involuntary treatment and contact with recovered peers, and explore hypothesised relationships to mechanisms of self-evaluation relevant to recovery.MethodEighty-nine adults diagnosed with serious mental illness completed items to assess involuntary treatment experience and the extent of prior contact with recovered peers, the Internalised Stigma of Mental Illness Scale, the Self-efficacy for Personal Recovery Scale, the Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery and relevant demographic and clinical scales.ResultsContact with recovered peers was found to moderate the effects of involuntary treatment on internalised stigma. Sequential conditional process models (i.e. moderated mediation) then demonstrated that conditional internalised stigma (i.e. moderated by contact with recovered peers) mediated the indirect effect of involuntary treatment on recovery-specific self-efficacy, which in turn influenced recovery. Compared with those with low contact with recovered peers, recovery scores were 3.54 points higher for those with high contact.ConclusionsAlthough study methods limit causative conclusions, findings are consistent with proposals that contact with recovered peers may be helpful for this patient group, and suggest this may be particularly relevant for those with involuntary treatment experience. Directions for future research, to further clarify measurement and conceptual tensions relating to the study of (dis)empowering experiences in mental health services, are discussed in detail.