A socio-psychological study of community attitudes towards selected mental health phenomena

Abstract

Health education has an impressive record in the field of physical illness. Large segments of the New Zealand population have been innoculated, both physically and psychologically, against cancer and tuberculosis and other diseases: there exists a widespread acceptance of the need for regular medical check-ups, dental care and the need to prevent diseases which have dangerous consequences. Mental health education has, for a variety of reasons, lagged behind these developments. Of mental health education, Clausen (1957) has remarked that one must "start where the community is". The present study describes where the urban New Zealand community is in relation to its attitudes towards mental illness and the mentally ill. This study conceives of mental illness as a form of social behaviour, and informants have been asked to make a wide variety of judgements. The method used is that of the attitude survey. A wide range of pre-tested questionnaires is used, and these examine Ss information, opinions and attitudes towards mental illness. Specific hypotheses are tested concerning the relationships between attitudes and Ss age, level of education, some personality characteristics, their amount of previous contact with mental illness and their level of information about mental illness. This study shows that urban-dwelling New Zealand respondents are relatively well-informed about the nature, causes and symptoms of mental illness, when compared with the amount of knowledge possessed by American and New Zealand expert judges. By contrast, it is also shown that attitudes towards the mentally ill are largely negative in nature. A fairly well-entrenched set of stereotypes is shown to exist with respect to the mentally ill, and respondents make fairly sharp distinctions between ‘normal’ and 'mentally ill persons. It is shown that a history of previous contact with mental illness and the mentally ill is unrelated to the attitudes held by Ss. By way of explanation it is argued that contact with mental illness leads to increases in anxiety, and that this off-sets possible changes in attitude. This study concludes by providing an overall explanation for the pattern of correlates between the various types of judgement made by Ss socio-psychological characteristics that Ss bring to the judgemental situation.