Chinese and American employers’ perspectives regarding hiring people with behaviorally driven health conditions: The role of stigma
Open accessAbstract
Work opportunities for people with behaviorally driven health conditions such as HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and psychosis are directly impacted by employer perspectives. To investigate this issue, we report findings from a mixed method design involving qualitative interviews followed by a quantitative survey of employers from Chicago (U.S.), Beijing (China), and Hong Kong (China). Findings from qualitative interviews of 100 employers were used to create 27 items measuring employer perspectives (the Employer Perspective Scale: EPS) about hiring people with health conditions. These perspectives reflect reasons for or against discrimination. In the quantitative phase of the study, representative samples of approximately 300 employers per city were administered the EPS in addition to measures of stigma, including attributions about disease onset and offset. The EPS and stigma scales were completed in the context of one of five randomly assigned health conditions. We weighted data with ratios of key demographics between the sample and the corresponding employer population data. Analyses showed that both onset and offset responsibility varied by behaviorally driven condition. Analyses also showed that employer perspectives were more negative for health conditions that are seen as more behaviorally driven, e.g., drug and alcohol abuse. Chicago employers endorsed onset and offset attributions less strongly compared to those in Hong Kong and Beijing. Chicago employers also recognized more benefits of hiring people with various health conditions. The implications of these findings for better understanding stigma and stigma change among employers are considered.
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Surveys of employers in Hong Kong and Beijing have highlighted employers' reluctance to hire people who have disorders that are perceived to be behaviourally-driven (depression and alcoholism) compared to people with disorders that may be out of their control, like bone cancer.
“Surveys of employers in Hong Kong and Beijing have highlighted employers' reluctance to hire people who have disorders that are perceived to be behaviourally-driven (diseases in which the affl icted may be seen to have some degree of control, depression, and alcoholism) compared to people with disorders that may be out of their control, like bone cancer. 17”
From Helping People with Mental Illness Return to Employment: Challenging Existing Beliefs (2015) · cites this paper as [17]
The Results (Group Differences in Employer Perspectives by Health Condition and City; page unavailable) report greater employer concern about alcohol abuse and psychosis than about bone cancer. The Methods (Development of Instrument Representing Employer Perspectives; page unavailable) state that the study used psychosis, not depression, as its mental-health condition; they also note that Chinese researchers viewed depression as more somatic. The claim is therefore supported for alcohol abuse and the general comparison, but not for depression. (LLM, conf=0.91)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPerceptions of employers have been documented as important barriers to employment.
“Perceptions of employers have been documented as important barriers to employment.”
From Helping People with Mental Illness Return to Employment: Challenging Existing Beliefs (2015) · cites this paper as [17]
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- Authors
- Corrigan, P. W., Tsang, H. W. H., Shi, K., Lam, C. S., & Larson, J.
- Affiliations
- Illinois Institute of Technology (US)
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Corrigan, Patrick W.
- Venue
- Social Science & Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-12
- Volume
- 71
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2162-2169
- ISSN
- 0277-9536 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2996889
- OpenAlex
- W2064068192
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Social Science & Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- PolyU Institutional Research Archive (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA014842-01)
- National Institutes of Mental Health
- Fogarty International Center
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Keywords
- employer perceptions, hiring decisions, stigma, HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, psychosis, cross-cultural comparison, China, United States
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Alcoholism, Attitude to Health, Chicago, China, Employment, Female, Hong Kong, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Personnel Selection, Psychotic Disorders, Stereotyping, HIV Infections, Substance-Related Disorders, Qualitative Research
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