@Article{ijmhp.2026.078761,
AUTHOR = {Siliang Yang, Gan Jin},
TITLE = {The Intervention Effects of Self-Perspective Imaginative Empathy on Mental Illness Stigma in Chinese Undergraduates},
JOURNAL = {International Journal of Mental Health Promotion},
VOLUME = {},
YEAR = {},
NUMBER = {},
PAGES = {{pages}},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/IJMHP/online/detail/26972},
ISSN = {2049-8543},
ABSTRACT = {<b>Background:</b> Reducing mental illness stigma is critical for mental health literacy enhancement in China, where stigmatization remains pronounced among undergraduates. Imaginative empathy is a promising anti-stigma intervention, but its specific effects and the potential moderating role of gender remain under-explored. <b>Methods:</b> Three studies were conducted with 18–22-year-old Chinese undergraduates. Study 1 (n = 223, survey design) explored gender’s moderation on empathy-stigma links. Study 2 (n = 217, 2 × 2 × 3 mixed design) tested the intervention effect of self-perspective imaginative empathy. Study 3 (n = 71, 2 × 2 × 2 mixed design) verified gender moderation. Stigma was measured via stereotypic explanatory bias (SEB) with internal attribution tendency as the core indicator. <b>Results:</b> Gender moderated the empathy-stigma relationship in positive situations (Study 1: <i>β</i> = 0.82, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001; Study 3: <i>F</i> = 4.77, <i>p</i> = 0.032), with males showing increased internal attribution as empathy rise. Self-perspective imaginative empathy significantly increased internal attribution in positive situations (<i>F</i> = 8.70, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01) and decreased it in negative situations (<i>F</i> = 109.63, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001; Study 2). <b>Conclusion:</b> Self-perspective imaginative empathy elicits attributional shifts consistent with reduced mental illness stigma among Chinese undergraduates. It induces a significant increase in internal attribution tendency among males in positive situations, providing implications for developing culturally tailored anti-stigma interventions targeting implicit cognitive biases.},
DOI = {10.32604/ijmhp.2026.078761}
}