FAMILY VALUES, RELIGIOSITY, AND EMOTIONAL-REACTIONS TO SCHIZOPHRENIA IN MEXICAN AND ANGLO-AMERICAN CULTURES

This study was designed to test whether two sociocultural variables, f amily cohesion and religiosity, related to affective reactions toward schizophrenia. It was hypothesized that increasing perceptions of one' s family as cohesive and religious would be associated with the expres sion of more favorable and less unfavorable emotions toward patients w ith the disorder. Eighty-eight Anglo-American undergraduates from Los Angeles and 88 Mexican undergraduates from Guadalajara read vignettes of a hypothetical family member described as meeting DSM-IC criteria f or schizophrenia. Results of this study suggest that perceptions of fa mily unity may be one important factor underlying emotional reactions toward factor underlying emotional reactions toward schizophrenia. As expected, increasing perceptions of family cohesion were associated wi th greater reports of favorable emotion and decreased reports of unfav orable emotion toward the patient. However after controlling for socia l desirability, family cohesion no Longer significantly predicted unfa vorable affect. Contrary to expectations, religiosity was not found to predict unfavorable or favorable emotions. However religiosity was fo und to covary with nationality. Mexicans, compared to Angles, reported greater moral-religious values in. their families. No national differ ences were found with respect to family cohesion. Implications of this study are discussed along with suggested directions for future resear ch.