Date of Award

9-2026

Document Type

Doctoral Research Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Radhika Krishnamurthy

Second Advisor

Mariana Juras

Third Advisor

Jonathan K. Fernand

Fourth Advisor

Leslie Matuszewich

Abstract

Evaluation of personality and psychological disorders is accomplished through the use of psychometric measures. However, tests require interpretation of test responses using a normative criterion based on a particular population that may not fully consider the effect of cultural influences on an individual’s level of willingness to report psychological difficulties. For example, individuals in collectivistic cultures may not be as willing to self-report problems because mental illness is often perceived as a source of embarrassment and shame. One culturally unique population that has been overlooked in psychological assessment is the Indo-Caribbean population. Their specific cultural values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices related to mental health have received little to no attention in psychological assessment research. The goal of the present study was to determine the impact of mental health stigma, assessed using the Endorsed and Anticipated Stigma Inventory (EASI), on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) scores of a North American Indo-Caribbean sample (N = 109). It was hypothesized that stigma would be inversely associated with reported emotional and behavioral dysfunction, with a higher level of underreporting and lower overreporting on the MMPI-3. Correlational analyses provided partial support for the hypotheses. Beliefs About Mental Illness demonstrated the most consistent inverse relationships with emotional and internalizing difficulties, suggesting that stronger stigmatizing beliefs were associated with lower self-reported psychological distress. In contrast, treatment-related stigma and anticipated stigma from loved ones showed limited inverse relationships with emotional difficulties. Overall, support for the hypothesized relationships of stigma with MMPI-3 behavioral and validity scales was limited. Hierarchical regression analyses similarly indicated that stigma accounted for small to moderate proportions of variance in MMPI-3 scores, with Beliefs About Mental Illness and Concerns About Stigma From Loved Ones emerging as particularly relevant predictors across several outcomes. Overall, the findings did not demonstrate a uniform relationship between mental health stigma and MMPI-3 responding. Rather, different dimensions of stigma were associated with distinct patterns of psychological functioning and self-report. Contributions of this study include providing preliminary reference data for an understudied population and highlighting the importance of considering cultural beliefs, interpersonal context, and stigma when interpreting psychological assessment results among Indo-Caribbean adults. Limitations include sample size, sampling characteristics, use of a community sample, unmeasured acculturation, and application of the EASI outside its original military population. Future research should examine larger samples and directly assess acculturation.

Download

Share

COinS