Can a negative religious causal attribution of mental illness affect the phenomenon of public stigma?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study assessed, through an exploratory approach, how religion-based negative causal attributions of mental illness may be associated to stigmatising attitudes and behaviours that contribute to public stigma in an Italian convenience sample. All participants (N = 311; average age = 33 years, 38.6% male) completed a set of three questionnaires: Religious Beliefs and Mental Illness Stigma Scale, the Attribution Questionnaire 27 and the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule. The study found support for two specific models. The Responsibility model involved four key predictors: participant age, the influence of religious beliefs in everyday choices, religious beliefs about the connection between morality/sin and mental illness and having participated in seminars about mental illness stigma. The Dangerousness model involved three exogenous variables: participating in mental illness stigma seminars, religious beliefs about morality/sin and mental illness, and participant age. This study allows the identification of variables that seem to activate or attenuate the models of “Personal Responsibility” and “Dangerousness”.