ETHNIC ATTITUDES TOWARD MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS (ASIANS, EUROPEANS, HISPANICS)

Abstract

The Ethnic Mental Illness (EMI) Scale, a questionnaire to discriminate European and Hispanic attitudes toward mental illness, was developed. Fifty-one college students of Hispanic ethnicity and 194 college students of European ethnicity completed a 150 item questionnaire measuring attitudes toward mental illness. A cross-validation sample of 50 Hispanic students and 194 European students ethnicity yielded 15 items that reliably differentiated the two groups. Based upon content, the 15 items were grouped into six categories: hopefulness, trust, biological aspects of mental illness, childhood origins, finances, and sex differences. Items which did not discriminate Hispanics and Europeans are described, as these items are possible indicators of common attitudes toward mental illness. A group of 66 Asian students also participated in the study. The items which differentiate Asians from Hispanics and Europeans are described. These items were not cross-validated.