Original scientific paper
SOME DETERMINANTS OF THE ATTITUDES TOWARDS PERSONS WITH MENTAL DISORDERS
Ana Kurtović
orcid.org/0000-0003-0779-5312
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Osijek
Nikolina Svalina
orcid.org/0000-0002-3016-8272
Abstract
The aim of this paper was to examine some determinants of the attitudes towards persons with mental disorders. In an online research with 264 respondents (aged 16 to 64, average age 30.13,
SD=10.50) we collected demographic data and examined contacts with persons with mental disorders, self-evaluation of the knowledge about mental disorders, attributions of mental disorders (internality, stability, controllability) and attitudes (the factor analysis gave us three factors: affective discomfort and avoiding, giving deviant characteristics and segregation and tolerance and normalization). The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that the socio-demographic variables did not predict affective discomfort and avoiding, whereas female sex and higher degree of education did predict less giving of deviant characteristics and segregation. The age predicted more tolerance and normalization. Friendship with a person who has a mental disorder and knowledge predicted less affective discomfort and avoiding and more tolerance and normalization. They did not have important effects on Giving deviant characteristics and segregation. Finally, the point of view that mental disorders are changeable states which a person cannot influence with his/her own
will also contributed to the more positive attitudes, predicting all the three factors.
Keywords
socio-demographic characteristics; contact; knowledge; attributions; attitudes; mental disorders
Hrčak ID:
170883
URI
Publication date:
16.12.2016.
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