Stigma Cues Increase Self-Conscious Emotions and Decrease Likelihood of Attention to Information about Preventing...

Area of Science:

• Health Communication
• Social Psychology
• Health Behavior

Background:

• Effective health communication requires message reception by target audiences.
• Health information stigma, particularly for stigmatized health issues, can impede message reception.
• Self-conscious emotions like shame and embarrassment are linked to attending to health information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the conditions under which participants report self-conscious emotions in response to health communications.
• To investigate the likelihood of reading health information associated with these emotions.
• To understand the role of stigma cues in emotional responses and information seeking.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted involving participants reading information about stigmatized and non-stigmatized diseases.
• Stigma cues were manipulated by varying perceived presence of others.
• Rejection sensitivity was measured to assess individual differences.

Main Results:

• Increased accessibility of stigma cues led to greater self-conscious emotions regarding stigmatized health issues.
• Stigma cues reduced the likelihood of reading information about stigmatized, but not non-stigmatized, health issues.
• Perceived social presence and rejection sensitivity moderated these effects.

Conclusions:

• Stigma and associated self-conscious emotions act as significant barriers to accessing health information.
• Health communication interventions must address stigma to improve engagement with sensitive health topics.
• Designing interventions that mitigate stigma is crucial for better health outcomes.