A cross-cultural comparison of British and Japanese lay theories of schizophrenia

Nearly 300 matched British and Japanese participants completed an equivalen t three-part questionnaire in their native language. The questionnaire cove red general beliefs or conceptions about schizophrenia, causal explanations for the aetiology of schizophrenia, as well as the role of hospitals in pa rticular, and society in general, in helping schizophrenics recover from th eir illness. It was predicted that the Japanese, who have more taboos about mental illness than the British, would see schizophrenics as more difficul t, dangerous and "morally insane". factor analysis of each of the three par ts of the questionnaire yielded a clearly interpretable structure, The Brit ish were more concerned with the rights of schizophrenics and believed them to be less dangerous and abnormal than did the Japanese. The Japanese favo ured sociological (stress) explanations more than the British for the cause of schizophrenia Whereas the Japanese saw micro- and macro-society change as the best way to help schizophrenics, the British stressed individual car e and consideration as more relevant.