The study, conducted by researchers at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., had 186 participants view 10 tweets, with a gender breakdown among participants of 67% male and 32% female. For half of the participants, five of the tweets expressed negative sentiments toward mental health treatment, while the other participants viewed tweets with no connection to mental health treatment.
The study found that the negative tweets did not affect male participants or female participants who held traditional views toward gender roles of femininity, while women who did not hold such traditional views of femininity reported more stigma against mental health treatment.
Researchers were surprised that the female participants’ views on femininity had such an effect, according to a Nov. 30 news release from Union College.
“We’re not sure why, but the results suggest that men might be generally less malleable in terms of their attitudes toward mental health treatment, and that women who do hold traditional views might generally be comfortable seeking assistance, and these views may have shielded people from the negative posts. But this is all speculation at this point,” said George Bizer, PhD, chair of the psychology department at Union and a co-author of the study.
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