A Survey of Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness

Abstract

Selected respondents drawn from metropolitan Melbourne (N = 318), when asked to express their opinions and attitudes in relation to four hypothetical characters, recognized mental illness in the paranoid schizophrenic, were hesitant to acknowledge it in the simple schizophrenic and the alcoholic, and denied it almost absolutely in the anxiety neurotic. Failure to diagnose a condition as mental illness did not, however, necessarily preclude recognition that the person described was in need of psychiatric help. Certain respondent characteristics and, in particular, education were related to the opinions and attitudes expressed.

Attitudes Towards People with a Mental Disorder: A Survey of the Australian Public and Health Professionals

“…[5–8]), comparatively little has been done in Australia. Apart from two small studies carried out a decade or two ago [9,10], the only research consists of unpublished surveys by the Commonwealth government [11,12] and the Schizophrenia Australia Foundation [13]. In 1993, the Commonwealth commissioned a study to assess community attitudes [11].…”

Sex Differences in Opinion Towards Mental Illness of Secondary School Students in Hong Kong

“…For example, the influence of socio-economic status on attitudes resulted in mixed findings. Some studies showed that poor and uneducated people, and those of the lower social classes did not have negative attitudes (Crocetti & Lemkau, 1963;1971;Graves et al 1971), whereas other studies showed that people of lower socio-economic status held a narrower definition of mental illness (Dohrenwand & Chin-Shong, 1967). Age is also associated with different attitudes towards mental illness, with young people having more positive attitudes (Johnson & Beditz, 1981).…”

Public attitudes towards mental health facilities in the community

“…More tolerance has most consistently been found to be associated with: having a knowledge of mental health problems (Trute & Loewen 1978, Roman & Floyd 1981; people in younger age groups (Rabkin 1972, Sellick & Goodyear 1985; people of a high socio-economic status (Dohrenwend & Chin-song 1967, Maclean 1969, Graves et al 1971) and people with a high level of education (Cumming & Cumming 1957, Wright & Klein 1966, Clark & Binks 1966, Brockington et af. 1993.…”

“…The quality of life of people with mental health problems is poorer where local hostility is rife or where there is little access to social support. In these conditions they are more likely to relapse (Dear & Taylor 1982), leading to re-admis-290 sion to hospital, a poorer chance of full recovery, less chance of employment, as well as generally increasing the stigma of mental health problems (Phillips 1964) and reducing utilization and acceptance of mental health services by the public at large (Graves et al 1971). Although attitudes towards people with mental health problems appear to have become more positive overall in the past three decades (Dear & Taylor 1982, Hall ef al.…”