Articles

Public Attitudes Toward People With Mental Illness in New Zealand, 1995–1996

Nikolaos Kazantzis^a1 c1, Amber Wakefield^a2, Frank P. Deane^a3, Kevin R. Ronan^a4 and Malcolm Johnson^a5

^a1 La Trobe University, Australia. N.Kazantzis@latrobe.edu.au

^a2 Massey University, New Zealand.

^a3 University of Wollongong, Australia.

^a4 Central Queensland University, Australia.

^a5 University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Abstract

Archival data from a cross-sectional survey of two cohorts of community-residing New Zealand adults (n = 157; n = 141) was analysed to examine social attitudes towards people with mental illness in a historical period associated with the establishment of a community mental health facility. Participants completed the Opinions about Mental Illness (OMI; Cohen & Struening, 1959), and the Comfort in Interaction Scale (CI, Beckwith & Mathews, 1994); the latter a measure of level of prior contact with people with mental illness. Across cohorts, the OMI Mental Hygiene subscale and the CI scale had significant variability. Older participants endorsed more Authoritarian, Social Restrictiveness and Interpersonal Ideology attitudes in their perception of people with mental illness than younger participants. Data supported the hypothesis that attitudes towards people with mental illness were influenced by social attitudes, and by opportunities to interact with people with mental illness in work settings.

Keywords

• public attitudes;
• mental illness;
• New Zealand;
• survey

Correspondence:

^c1 Address for correspondence: Nikolaos Kazantzis, School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia.