School-Age Children's Perceptions of Mental Illness

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe how school-age children perceive mental illness. The specific aims of this study were to describe the impact of age and sex on children's ability to identify and classify deviant behavior, and to identify how school-age children perceive mental illness by looking at how they define the concept, characterize the mentally ill, and understand causality and treatment. The random sample consisted of 90 school-age children. Thirty children were in grade 1, 30 in grade 4, and 30 in grade 7. A multimethods approach combining qualitative and quantitative techniques was used to analyze data. Major study findings indicated that age was not a significant factor in children's ability to classify deviant behavior; however, there was a sex main effect: Boys were able to better identify deviant behaviors than girls. A developmental trend was noted in children's ability to be aware of what mental illness is, to acknowledge characteristics of people who are mentally ill, to differentiate between mental illness and mental retardation, to identify various etiologies of mental illness, and to choose appropriate treatment modalities.

How Do Children Stigmatize People With Mental Illness?

“…We would hypothesize that young children will be unable to perceive the cues that distinguish people with mental illness from the 'normal' population; as a result, they will be less likely to endorse prejudicial statements about this group at age 5 (unlike the pattern found for ethnic prejudice). This hypothesis is somewhat supported by data that show that seven-year-olds were unfamiliar and/or confused by terms like mental illness and psychiatry (Spitzer & Cameron, 1995). Data from a recently completed dissertation upheld this hypothesis (Aldridge, 2003); preschoolers and kindergartners were essentially unable to distinguish the groupness of pictures of children who were 'normal' or 'mentally ill'.…”

“…Spitzer and Cameron (1995) found that seven-year-olds were unfamiliar with terms like mental illness and psychiatry but could correctly defi ne weird and crazy, especially as applied to adults in vignettes manifesting psychiatric symptoms. Weiss (1985Weiss ( , 1986Weiss ( , 1994 completed a series of studies on personal beliefs (a proxy of prejudice) about people with mental illness on kindergartners to third graders.…”

Masthead

“…It has been estimated, for example, that children have already received the equivalent of three years of television instruction by the time their formal schooling begins (Wahl 2003). With regular reinforcement from news and entertainment media, children's thinking about mental illness follow a developmental path, with prejudices eventually becoming fully engrained and deeply resistant to change (Adler and Wahl 1998;Spitzer and Cameron 1995).…”

Reducing Mental Health Stigma: A Case Study

“…It has been estimated, for example, that children have already received the equivalent of three years of television instruction by the time their formal schooling begins (Wahl 2003). With regular reinforcement from news and entertainment media, children's thinking about mental illness follow a developmental path, with prejudices eventually becoming fully engrained and deeply resistant to change (Adler and Wahl 1998;Spitzer and Cameron 1995).…”