ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2026
Mental health problem recognition and stigma among emerging adults: Findings from the Voices for Well-Being Study (Project VOW).
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeEmerging adults experience the highest rates of mental health problems but the lowest rates of treatment engagement among U.S. adults. Stigma is a well-known barrier to care, undermining outcomes along the mental health treatment cascade from symptom recognition to treatment seeking. In the present study, we examine differences in experiences of stigma among emerging adults based on the presence, recognition, and/or diagnosis of mental health problems.
methodThe Voices for Well-Being (Project VOW) is a 12-wave longitudinal study of stigma and mental health in emerging adults (ages 18-21) recruited nationally via snowball and convenience sampling, surveyed quarterly for three years. Using baseline data, we classified participants into four groups: (1) no mental health problem history (n = 608); (2) recognized and diagnosed (n = 2566); (3) recognized and undiagnosed (n = 1417) and (4) unrecognized mental health problem (n = 91). We examined demographic profiles and compared groups across stigma mechanisms (stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, perceived, anticipated, experienced, and internalized stigma) using ANCOVA models.
resultsThe Project VOW Cohort is demographically diverse with a high mental health burden; 54.4% of participants reported a recognized and diagnosed mental health problem. Emerging adults with no or unrecognized mental health problems endorsed greater stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination than those with recognized problems. Individuals with recognized and diagnosed conditions reported more experienced and internalized stigma than those with recognized but undiagnosed or unrecognized problems.
conclusionFindings highlight the critical role diagnoses play in shaping how people with mental illness are treated and view themselves, informing stigma intervention efforts for emerging adults.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42663664What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.