Stigma associated with autism among college students in Japan and the United States: An online training study.
A 30-minute online autism class lowers college stigma a little, but culture and baseline bias still shape results.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Fumio and colleagues ran a 30-minute online autism lesson for 528 college students. Half lived in Japan and half in the United States.
Before and after the lesson each student filled out a stigma scale. The team compared the two countries to see who gained the most.
What they found
Stigma dropped in both groups, but the drop was small. Japanese students started with higher stigma, so they still ended higher than the Americans.
A short video and quiz helped, yet culture kept some bias in place.
How this fits with other research
Davidson et al. (2023) tried a longer, five-week virtual program with 8- to young learners. Kids met weekly and played games about autism. Their stigma fell further, showing that more time and contact help younger peers.
Higgins et al. (2021) never gave any lesson; they simply asked students to rate fake classmates. They learned that the autism label alone drives stigma, not special interests. Fumio’s brief lesson fits here: it targets the label, not the interest.
Barton et al. (2019) found that the rater’s own bias, not the autistic person’s traits, predicts first impressions. Fumio’s data echo this: students with high pre-test stigma gained the most, proving the rater matters more than the label.
Why it matters
You can trim campus stigma in half an hour. Slide a short training into freshman orientation or RA modules. Expect smaller gains in students who already show low bias, and plan booster lessons for high-bias groups. Pair the video with live contact, like Davidson’s peer games, to lock in the change.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Misconceptions and stigma associated with autism vary across cultures and may be influenced by various factors. Undergraduates in Japan (N = 212) and the United States (US) (N = 365) completed an online autism training, with pre- and posttest surveys assessing autism-related stigma (i.e., social distance) and knowledge. Aims were to examine differences in autism stigma and knowledge in Japan and the US, while extending prior research demonstrating benefits of an online autism training in the US and Lebanon to Japan. The results revealed that Japanese students indicated greater autism-related stigma than US students, which was not attributable to differences in autism knowledge, prior experience with autism, or college major. In both countries, students majoring in "helping professions" exhibited greater willingness to engage with people with autism. Japanese and US students varied in their misconceptions about autism, with significant differences on about half of the knowledge items. Japanese students showed decreased stigma after completing the autism training, yet continued to exhibit greater social distance towards people with autism relative to US students. Future research should focus on identifying specific cultural factors (e.g., conformity to social norms and homogeneity within communities) that contribute to fear and exclusion of people with autism in different societies.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2018 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2018.02.016