Prejudice, social distance, and familiarity with mental illness

In this study, the paths between two prejudicial attitudes (authoritarianis m and benevolence) and a proxy measure of behavioral discrimination (social distance) were examined in a sample drawn from the general public, Moreove r, the effects of two person variables (familiarity with mental illness and ethnicity) on prejudice were examined in the path analysis. One hundred fi fty-one research participants completed measures of prejudice toward, socia l distance from, and familiarity with mental illness, Goodness-of-fit index es from path analyses supported our hypotheses. Social distance is influenc ed by both kinds of prejudice: authoritarianism (the belief that persons wi th mental illness cannot care for themselves, so a paternalistic health sys tem must do so) and benevolence (the belief that persons with mental illnes s are innocent and childlike). These forms of prejudice, in turn, are influ enced by the believers' familiarity with mental illness and their ethnicity . We also discuss how these findings might contribute to a fuller understan ding of mental illness stigma.