Development, reliability, and validity of the beliefs toward mental illness scale

The present study describes the development of a new scale to measure Belie fs toward Mental Illness (BMI), which was designed to measure cross-cultura l differences in such beliefs as well as to predict treatment-seeking behav ior among different cultural groups. A total of 216 students participated i n this study (114 Asian students and 102 American students). A series of fa ctor analyses examining construct validity for the BMI revealed that the BM I has three dimensions, including dangerousness, poor social and interperso nal skills, and incurability. Examination of the reliability estimates for each factor revealed moderate to high internal consistency of the BMI. Comp arisons between American and Asian students revealed the expected cultural differences in their beliefs toward mental illness and treatment preference .