Investigation of attitudes toward people with mental illness.

Abstract

Since the passage of the federal Community Mental Health Centers Act in 1963 changes in treatment and care for individuals with mental illnesses have occurred. Local communities now provide assistance and services for people with mental illness. Understanding attitudes held by these communities is important. This study tested three hypotheses: Perceptions of people labeled mentally ill would differ depending on whether the individual reports personal views or the views perceived to be held by others; gender of participants would not influence attitudes reported toward people with a mental illness; and gender would not influence attitudes when an individual reports personal views or the views perceived to be held by others. The attitudes of 104 college students enrolled in introductory psychology classes were measured using the Community Attitudes toward Mental Illness scale (CAM!). The CAMI's four subscales, measure authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, and community mental health ideology. A 2 x 2 mixed factor MANOVA and four 2 x 2 ANOVAs were calculated to examine the effect and interaction of gender and viewpoint reported on the four attitudes measured. Gender and Viewpoint main effects were significant as were a number of interactions. Women reported more accepting attitudes and stronger attitudes than men did. Participants reported personal attitudes differed significantly from the perceived attitudes of others. Women reported their personal view as being more different from others than men perceived their personal attitudes to be. The findings of this study indicate a need for continued investigation of attitudes. A need to incorporate into mental health policy actions that help continue the trend of demystifying mental illness. The findings also indicate a need to continue to acknowledge there are differences in attitudes between men and women and that this may impact how both professionals and the general population approach individuals with a mental illness.