The Socialization of Youth into the American Mental Health Belief System

Abstract

This research brings empirical data to bear on a basic proposition of socialization that has generally been assumed rather than demonstrated: As young people get older and closer to full societal participation, they acquire common-sense views of social life that come increasingly to resemble those of adults in their communities. The operational domain is opinions about mental health/disorder, considered as a facet of popular conceptions ofpsychologicalfunctioning. The mean responses of seniors in each offive diverse Michigan high schools to Nunnally's opinion statements tended to be closest to teacher responses, whereas those offreshmen were furthest (student N = 989, teacher N = 161). Correlations between high schools, and with Seattle students, of over .90, and response patterns exhibited, suggest the occurrence of a stable, pervasive cultural belief system, rather than a collection of stereotypes, into which most youth are effectively inducted. This belief system and the associated socialization processes continue to function despite the ferment of change and controversy that characterize this facet of social life. Relationships to sociological perspectives on mental disorder, including labeling theory, are considered.