Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
331925 | Psychiatry Research | 2013 | 6 Pages |
Research has revealed the negative consequences of internalized stigma among people with serious mental illness (SMI), including reductions in self-esteem and hope. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation between internalized stigma and subjective quality of life (QoL) by examining the mediating role of self-esteem and hope. Measures of internalized stigma, self-esteem, QoL, and hope were administrated to 179 people who had a SMI. Linear regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to analyze the cross-sectional data. Self-esteem mediated the relation between internalized stigma and hope. In addition, hope partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and QoL. The findings suggest that the effect of internalized stigma upon hope and QoL may be closely related to levels of self-esteem. This may point to the need for the development of interventions that target internalized stigma as well as self-esteem.