Religion - A mediator of Anglo-American and Mexican attributional differences toward symptoms of schizophrenia?

This study examined the relationship of religiosity to attributions toward schizophrenia, within a cultural context. Previous research suggests that o n self-report measures, Mexicans endorse holding greater moral-religious va lues than do their Anglo-American counterparts. Research also indicates tha t Mexicans, relative to Anglo-Americans, tend to hold fewer blameworthy att ributions and are less likely to view patients with schizophrenia as respon sible for the symptoms of the disorder. In an analog study of 88 Mexican an d 88 Anglo-American college students asked to imagine that they have a brot her with schizophrenia, this study assessed two competing hypotheses regard ing the role of religion in shaping reactions to schizophrenia in a family member. Far hypothesis 1, Baron and Kenny's mediational model (1986) was us ed to assess whether moral religious values may play a direct mediating rol e between ethnicity and controllability attributions for schizophrenia. In other words, based on observations of previous researchers, this set of ana lyses assessed whether ethnic differences in controllability attributions m ight be explained by a religious or spiritual tendency in Mexicans to view negative events, such as mental disability, as rooted in divine factors bey ond the patient's personal control. In contrast, a second, competing, hypot hesis was also assessed in this study: namely, that greater religiosity wou ld be positively correlated with increasing perceptions of control over the symptoms of schizophrenia. This hypothesis stems from the premise of sever al investigators that religious individuals may be more likely to perceive another's adversity (such as having schizophrenia) as a punishment for prio r wrongdoings or for failure to try to help oneself. Results indicate suppo rt for the latter hypothesis. Implications of the paradoxical finding, that Mexicans were both more religious and more external in their attributions, are discussed.