Stability of mental health attitudes: a semantic differential study.

Research reviews conclude that popular mental health attitnldes are changing, generally "yfor the better." InI this "longitudinal" study, two comparable sets oqfcollege students responded in 1962 (n =215) and in 1971 (n =319) to a semantic differential of eight concepts and tvwelve scales. (Contrary to expectations, attitudes were remarkablv similarfor the two samples: correlations ofconcept means ranged from .95 to .99, and scale means were almost identical in rank order. NATnnally's finding in the 1 950's were generally substantiated, wvith the addition that "Ex-Mental Patient" was perceived as high/ly similar to "Average Man," suggesting that stigma mnav nmot be permanent. The general public and college students appear closely to co-vary imm attitudes, with (liferences of intensity rather than direction or dimension; bath categories am)e interpreted as participammts in a penrasive stable system of' cultural beliefs about p.svchological disorder.