Abstract
BackgroundAlthough there is a substantial body of research on the stigma associated with mental illness, much of the extant research has not explicitly focused on the concept of prejudice, which drives discriminatory behaviour. Further, research that has investigated prejudice towards people with mental illness has conceptual, theoretical and psychometric limitations. To address these shortcomings, we sought to develop a new measure, the Prejudice towards People with Mental Illness (PPMI) scale, based on an improved conceptualisation and integration of the stigma and prejudice areas of research.MethodsIn developing the new scale, we undertook a thematic analysis of existing conceptualisations and measures to identify a pool of potential items for the scale which were subsequently assessed for fidelity and content validity by expert raters. We tested the structure, reliability, and validity of the scale across three studies (Study 1 N = 301; Study 2 N = 164; Study 3 N = 495) using exploratory factor, confirmatory factor, correlational, multiple regression, and ordinal logistic regression analyses using both select and general community samples.ResultsStudy 1 identified four factors underlying prejudice towards people with mental illness: fear/avoidance, malevolence, authoritarianism, and unpredictability. It also confirmed the nomological network, that is, the links of these attitudes with the proposed theoretical antecedents and consequences. Studies 2 and 3 further supported the factor structure of the measure, and provided additional evidence for the nomological network.ConclusionsWe argue that research into prejudice towards people with mental illness will benefit from the new measure and theoretical framework.
Highlights
There is a substantial body of research on the stigma associated with mental illness, much of the extant research has not explicitly focused on the concept of prejudice, which drives discriminatory behaviour
Phelan et al wrote: “the strong congeniality and large degree of overlap we found between models of stigma and prejudice should encourage scholars to reach across stigma/prejudice lines when searching for theory, methods and empirical findings to guide their new endeavors” ([3], p. 365) We will follow these researchers’ call, and while reviewing the broad literature on stigma, focus on the construct of prejudice towards mental illness (MI) and its measurement
SDO and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) Social dominance orientation was measured with a 16-item SDO scale [41] (α = .93), and RWA with the 18-item version of the Authoritarianism-Conservatism-Traditionalism (ACT) scale [42] (α = .88)
Summary
There is a substantial body of research on the stigma associated with mental illness, much of the extant research has not explicitly focused on the concept of prejudice, which drives discriminatory behaviour. Research that has investigated prejudice towards people with mental illness has conceptual, theoretical and psychometric limitations. The concept of prejudice itself has rarely been the explicit focus of studies involving MI, and many scales measuring stigma do not explicitly focus on, or in some cases do not include items. For the purpose of this investigation, we will use a definition of prejudice as a negative outgroup attitude [4], and an attitude as a positive or negative evaluation of an object [5]. These definitions are widely, though not universally, endorsed.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
