COMMONLY USED TERMINOLOGY AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO STIGMA SURROUNDING THOSE WITH SUBSTANCE RELATED CONDITIONS

Abstract

This study sought to examine the role labels play in stigma surrounding individuals with substance related conditions. Specifically, the labels "drug addict", "person with substance use disorder", and "substance abuser." Researchers Kelly and Westerhoff (2010) found that participants in their study were more likely to believe a person with a substance related condition was deserving of blame and punishment when labeled as a "substance abuser" rather than a "person with substance use disorder." Based on this previous research, we hypothesized that participants would have an increase in stigmatizing attitudes toward a person framed as a "substance abuser" compared to "a person with substance use disorder." We also aimed to examine the role essentialism may have in participants' levels of stigmatizing beliefs. We hypothesized that participants with high levels of stigmatizing beliefs would also have high levels of essentialist beliefs. Participants read a brief passage about an individual's journey with drug use. In this passage, the individual was labeled either as a "substance abuser", "drug addict", or "person with substance use disorder." Following the passage, participants reported their attitudes toward the individual by answering questions measuring stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes. Participants were also assessed on their level of essentialist beliefs. The results did not support our hypothesis, as there was no significant difference between the conditions regarding stigmatizing attitudes toward the individual with a substance related condition. However, in an exploratory analysis that split participants by political ideology, a main effect between language and political ideology was found; participants with right of center political leanings scored higher on a general measure of stigmatizing beliefs toward an individual with substance use than participants with left of center beliefs. Specifically, right of center participants in the drug addict condition scored significantly higher on the measure of stigmatizing beliefs than left of center participants.

Key Words: Substance Use Disorder, Stigma, Language, Essentialism, Drug Use