Reducing the stigma associated with anorexia nervosa: An evaluation of a social consensus intervention among Australian and Chinese young women

Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of a social consensus intervention in reducing stigma toward individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) among women from Australia and mainland China. Moreover, the different predictions of informational/normative social influence theory and the social identity approach in terms of the effectiveness of the social consensus intervention were investigated. Method: Participants were female students from the Australian National University (n = 97) and Central China Normal University (n = 76) who reported their levels of stigma toward a fictional character with AN before and after receiving normative information regarding the attitudes of others toward people with AN. Three experimental conditions of normative information were utilized: in-group, out-group, and neutral. Results: Chinese participants reported higher levels of baseline stigma across all measures than Australian participants. Social consensus was effective in reducing most types of AN stigma, and supported the social identity approach in that improvements in attitudinal, affective, and behavioral aspects of stigma were significantly greater for participants in the in-group (but not the out-group) versus the neutral condition. The effectiveness of the social consensus approach was not moderated by nationality. Discussion: A social consensus approach holds potential as an additional strategy for reducing AN stigma, with its benefits extending across diverse cultural settings. Such an approach would entail ensuring that positive messages regarding people with AN are delivered by members of a valued in-group.