Social‐demographic aspects in the attitudes towards mental illness in a Finnish population

• Published in: Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
• Main Authors: Lehtinen, V., Väisänen, E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1977
• Subjects: Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1977.tb00173.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0447.1977.tb00173.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1977.tb00173.x

Attitudes towards mental illness were studied in a random population of 1,000 subjects from southern and northern Finland using a Likert‐type attitude scale. Correlations between attitudes and social‐demographic variables were studied with one‐way variance analysis and with specific multivariable techniques (AID and MCA). The best correlations were established between educational standard and attitudes, and between age and attitudes: higher education and younger age correlated with positive attitudes. Even social group and attitudes seemed to be distinctly correlated: the higher the social status, the more positive the attitudes. No difference could be demonstrated between residents from southern and northem Finland; rural subjects, however, possessed distinctly more negative attitudes than urban residents. According to the authors the most striking result was the observation that females show somewhat (statistically very significantly) more negative attitudes than males. It could also be established that the attitudes of female subjects varied greatly in various groups of variables.