Stability of Mental Health Attitudes: A Semantic Differential Study

Abstract

Research reviews conclude that popular mental health attitnldes are changing, generally yfor the better. InI this longitudinal study, two comparable sets oqfcollege students responded in 1962 (n =215) and in 1971 (n =319) to a semantic differential of eight concepts and tvwelve scales. (Contrary to expectations, attitudes were remarkablv similarfor the two samples: correlations ofconcept means ranged from .95 to .99, and scale means were almost identical in rank order. NATnnally's finding in the 1 950's were generally substantiated, wvith the addition that Ex-Mental Patient was perceived as high/ly similar to Average Man, suggesting that stigma mnav nmot be permanent. The general public and college students appear closely to co-vary imm attitudes, with (liferences of intensity rather than direction or dimension; bath categories am)e interpreted as participammts in a penrasive stable system of' cultural beliefs about p.svchological disorder.