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Abstract: 

The emergence of a research foundation about stigmatization among adults has been a driver in the development of new theories to explain stigmatization processes and new strategies for combating stigmatization. The comparative paucity of research about stigmatization expressed toward children and adolescents with emotional or behavioral challenges has meant that efforts to build and test theory, and to develop and evaluate anti-stigmatization efforts, have not progressed to the same extent. During the past several years, staff from the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, have been engaged in research designed to address some of the basic questions about the stigmatization encountered by children and adolescents who experience two particularly common childhood disorders—depression and ADHD. This article describes findings from the first-ever national survey focused on children’s stigmatization of peers with emotional or behavioral disorders.

Keywords: stigmatization; peer rejection; ADHD; depression; mental illness; children’s mental health

Affiliations:  1: Portland State University.