The field test of The Science of Mental Illness curriculum supplement for middle school (grades 6-8) children provided an opportunity to assess knowledge and attitudes about mental illness in more than 1,500 middle school students throughout the United States and to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention on stigma-related attitudes. Two primary questions were examined: (1) what are the baseline knowledge and attitudes about mental illness in this sample of middle school students, and (2) does participation in a curriculum about the science of mental illness increase knowledge and improve attitudes about mental illness? Consistent with findings from other studies, results indicate that students had some understanding of mental illness as a problem of the brain with biological and psychosocial causes; however, they lacked knowledge about treatment and overall were "not sure" about many aspects of mental illness. The students did not strongly endorse negative attitudes about mental illness at baseline. The curriculum produced significant improvements in both knowledge and attitudes at posttest and was most effective in improving attitudes among those with more negative baseline attitudes. These findings suggest that a brief educational program can be an effective intervention to increase knowledge and improve attitudes about mental illness.

Many advocates have called for more anti-stigma programs targeting the attitudes of children towards people with mental illness as a way to forestall subsequent prejudice and discrimination as they age and develop. In order to better understand how children stigmatize people with mental illness, we reviewed the substantial literature on social cognitive development and ethnic prejudice. This literature suggests a curvilinear relationship. Children as young as three show some endorsement of stereotypes about people of color, which slowly increases and seems to peak around age fi ve to six. Older children, interestingly, show lower rates of ethnic prejudice. Differences between mental illness and ethnicity-related stigma may infl uence the form of this relationship and we provide some hypotheses representing this difference. We then summarize the literature on stigma change, focusing on how specifi c strategies interact with what is known about social cognitive development and prejudice. Strategies that are reviewed include education, contact, social cognitive skills training, role play for empathy, peer interaction, protest and consequences. Implications for continued research in this area are highlighted throughout the article.

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The prothoracicotropic hormone is an insect neuropeptide released into the hemolymph to signal molting and metamorphosis through its stimulation of steroidogenesis. The only known source of the prothoracicotropic hormone in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, has been a group of lateral cerebral neurosecretory cells, the L-NSC III. In this study, the developmental and spatial distribution of the prothoracicotropic hormone was examined throughout the life cycle of Manduca. In common with many vertebrates and invertebrates in which neuropeptides are located in several regions within the central nervous system (CNS), the prothoracicotropic hormone phenotype in Manduca is expressed by CNS neurons in addition to the L-NSC III. These neurons are located in the brain, frontal ganglion, and subesophageal ganglion. One cerebral neurosecretory cell group, the ventromedial neurons, expresses the prothoracicotropic hormone phenotype and the behavioral neurohormone, eclosion hormone. Whereas the L-NSC III and the ventromedial neurons express the peptide phenotype throughout the life cycle, the other neurons express the peptide only during the embryonic and larval stages. This precise spatial and temporal expression of the prothoracicotropic hormone by different groups of neurosecretory cells raises the possibility that in Manduca the peptide may, in addition to its known neuroendocrine function, play other physiological roles in different ways at different stages of the life cycle.

The organization of identified neurosecretory cell groups in the larval brain of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, was investigated immunocytologically. Computer-assisted three-dimensional reconstruction was used to examine the architecture of the neurosecretory cell groups. The group III lateral neurosecretory cells (L-NSC-III) which produce the prothoracicotropic hormone are located dorsolaterally in the protocerebrum and extend axons medially that decussate to the contralateral lobe prior to exiting the brain through the nervi corporis cardiaci I + II. The group IIa2 medial neurosecretory cells (M-NSC IIa2) are located anteriorly in the medial dorsal protocerebrum. The axons of these cells also exit the brain via the contralateral nervi corporis cardiaci I + II. However, their axons traverse a different pathway through the brain from that of the L-NSC III axons. Each of the cell groups possesses elaborate dendrites with terminal varicosities. The dendrites can be classified into specific fields based upon their location and projection pattern within the brain. The dendrites for these two neurosecretory cell groups overlap in specific regions of the protocerebral neuropil. After the axons of these neurosecretory cells exit the brain through the retrocerebral nerve, they innervate the corpus allatum where they arborize to form neurohemal terminals in strikingly different patterns. The L-NSC III penetrate throughout the glandular structure and the M-NSC IIa2 terminals are restricted to the external sheath. A third group of cerebral neurosecretory cells, the ventromedial neurons (VM) which stain with the monoclonal antibody to prothoracicotropic hormone in Manduca, are located anteriorly in the medial region of the brain. The axons of these cells do not exit the brain to the retrocerebral complex, but rather pass through the circumesophageal connectives and ventral nerve cord. These neurons appear to be the same VM neurons that produce eclosion hormone. One dendritic field of the L-NSC III terminates in close apposition to the VM neurons. The distinct morphologies of these neurosecretory cell groups in relation to other cell groups and the distribution of neuropeptides within the neurons suggest that insect neurosecretory cells, like their vertebrate counterparts, may have multiple regulatory roles.