Table 1.

Individual Items Included in the Scales of Psychological Measures

Biomedical explanatory illness representation model of depression (α = 0.73)

  1. Clinical depression is a real medical illness.

  2. Chemical imbalances in the brain cause depression.

  3. Clinical depression is as serious as other long-lasting medical conditions like diabetes or heart disease.

  4. Depression can contribute to physical symptoms like pain or headaches.

  5. People with depression should be able to pull themselves out of it without professional help.

  6. Most people with depression can fully recover on their own by participating in activities such as exercise, meditation, and socializing with friends and family.

Environmental explanatory illness representation model of depression (α = 0.62)

  1. Depression is the result of problems in living, such as job stress, money problems, or conflicts with family.

  2. Clinical depression is caused by bad experiences in a person's past such as abuse, neglect, or trauma.

Perceived depression stigma (α = 0.54)

  1. I would be embarrassed if my friends knew I was getting professional help for an emotional problem.

  2. If I had depression, my family would be disappointed with me.

  3. I would not want my employer to know I was getting professional help for an emotional problem.

Religiosity (α = 0.87)

  1. How often do you attend religious services? (never, barely, sometimes, often)

  2. When you do have problems or difficulties in your work, family or personal life, how often do you seek spiritual comfort? (never, barely, sometimes, often)

  3. In general how important are religious or spiritual beliefs in your day-to-day life? (not at all, only somewhat important, very important, extremely important)

  4. In general how religious would you say you are? (not at all religious, only somewhat religious, very religious, extremely religious)

Toughness (α = 0.63)

  1. A person should always try to project an air of confidence even if they really do not feel confident inside.

  2. A good motto to live by is, When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

  3. When people are feeling a little pain, they should try not to let it show very much.

  4. People must stand on their own 2 feet and never depend on other people to help them do things.

  • The level of agreement with each item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly agree, 5 = strongly disagree) for all of the measures except religiosity. Responses were reverse coded if necessary so that higher scale scores indicated greater levels of the given psychological construct.