Mannarini Stefania, Boffo Marilisa, Rossi Alessandro, Balottin Laura
Interdepartmental Center for Family Research, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, Section of Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Addiction, Development and Psychopathology (ADAPT) Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2018 Jan 9;8:2289. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02289. eCollection 2017.
Although scientific research on the etiology of mental disorders has improved the knowledge of biogenetic and psychosocial aspects related to the onset of mental illness, stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors are still very prevalent and pose a significant social problem. The aim of this study was to deepen the knowledge of how attitudes toward people with mental illness are affected by specific personal beliefs and characteristics, such as culture and religion of the perceiver. More precisely, the main purpose is the definition of a structure of variables, namely perceived dangerousness, social closeness, and avoidance of the ill person, together with the beliefs about the best treatment to be undertaken and the sick person' gender, capable of describing the complexity of the stigma construct in particular as far as schizophrenia is concerned. The study involved 305 university students, 183 from the University of Padua, Italy, and 122 from the University of Haifa, Israel. For the analyses, a latent class analysis (LCA) approach was chosen to identify a latent categorical structure accounting for the covariance between the observed variables. Such a latent structure was expected to be moderated by cultural background (Italy versus Israel) and religious beliefs, whereas causal beliefs, recommended treatment, dangerousness, social closeness, and public avoidance were the manifest variables, namely the observed indicators of the latent variable. Two sets of results were obtained. First, the relevance of the manifest variables as indicators of the hypothesized latent variable was highlighted. Second, a two-latent-class categorical dimension represented by prejudicial attitudes, causal beliefs, and treatments concerning schizophrenia was found. Specifically, the differential effects of the two cultures and the religious beliefs on the latent structure and their relations highlighted the relevance of the observed variables as indicators of the expected latent variable. The present study contributes to the improvement of the understanding of how attitudes toward people with mental illness are affected by specific personal beliefs and characteristics of the perceiver. The definition of a structure of variables capable of describing the complexity of the stigma construct in particular as far as schizophrenia is concerned was achieved from a cross-cultural perspective.
尽管对精神障碍病因的科学研究增进了人们对与精神疾病发作相关的生物遗传和社会心理方面的认识，但污名化态度和行为仍然非常普遍，并构成了一个重大的社会问题。本研究的目的是深入了解对患有精神疾病者的态度是如何受到感知者的特定个人信念和特征（如文化和宗教）影响的。更确切地说，主要目的是定义一个变量结构，即感知到的危险性、社会亲近感以及对患者的回避，连同关于应采取的最佳治疗方法的信念以及患者的性别，这些变量能够描述污名构建的复杂性，特别是就精神分裂症而言。该研究涉及305名大学生，其中183名来自意大利帕多瓦大学，122名来自以色列海法大学。在分析中，选择了潜在类别分析（LCA）方法来识别一个潜在的分类结构，该结构能够解释观测变量之间的协方差。预计这种潜在结构会受到文化背景（意大利与以色列）和宗教信仰的调节，而因果信念、推荐的治疗方法、危险性、社会亲近感和公众回避是显性变量，即潜在变量的观测指标。获得了两组结果。首先，突出了显性变量作为假设潜在变量指标的相关性。其次，发现了一个由对精神分裂症的偏见态度、因果信念和治疗方法所代表的双潜在类别分类维度。具体而言，两种文化和宗教信仰对潜在结构及其关系的差异影响突出了观测变量作为预期潜在变量指标的相关性。本研究有助于增进对人们对患有精神疾病者的态度如何受到感知者特定个人信念和特征影响的理解。从跨文化视角实现了对一个能够描述污名构建复杂性（特别是就精神分裂症而言）的变量结构的定义。
