Can Locus of Control, Affective, and Cognitive Empathy Levels Predict Public Stigma towards Forensic Patients?

While everyone is surrounded by public stigma, one of the groups that are affected by stigma the most are forensic patients* (Fox et al., 2018). After rehabilitation, they still have to live with stigma, which others apply to them in their daily lives. It is worth researching, as it will help identify which individual factors contribute to this stigma. Thus, this study aimed to assess whether public stigma towards forensic psychiatric patients is predicted by levels of locus of control and empathy. Three self-reported questionnaires were given to 141 participants (115 females, 23 males, 3 unknown). Following that, the data collected was analysed by multiple regression. In line with previous research (Injac-Stevović et al., 2020; Hecht et al., 2022), a significant, negative association between overall empathy and overall stigma was found. Interestingly, a significant, positive association was found between locus of control and forensic stigma. These associations are discussed in more detail on the poster and PowerPoint slides.

This study adds to the existing literature by showing that:

1) Cognitive and affective empathy negatively influences the responsibility/blame aspect of forensic stigma.

2) External locus of control positively influences the dangerousness/unpredictability and responsibility/blame aspects of forensic stigma.

Consequently, this study is a good foundation for future studies on empathy, locus of control, and stigma.

*The term ‘forensic patient’ refers to a mentally ill individual who has committed(an)offence(s)(Healey, 2022).