IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v46y2000i2p79-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sex Differences in Opinion Towards Mental Illness of Secondary School Students in Hong Kong

Author

Listed:
  • Petrus Ng

    (Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University)

  • Kai-Fong Chan

    (Deparment of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University)

Abstract

Sex differences in social attitudes have been well documented. Women hold more positive attitudes toward mental illness than men do. This paper reports on the effect of sex differences in a study of secondary school students' opinions about mental illness in Hong Kong. A total of 2,223 secondary school students, drawn by random sample, completed a 45-item questionnaire on Opinion about Mental Illness in Chinese Community (OMICC) with a six-point Likert Scale. Individual items with weak correlations were eliminated, leaving 33 items for analysis (Cronbach's Alpha = .866). Using factor analysis six factors were identified. These include: Benevolence, Separatism, Stereotyping, Restrictiveness, Pessi mistic Prediction and Stigmatization. Results showed that girls scored higher regarding benevolence. Boys were found to have more stereotyping, restrictive, pessimistic and stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness.

Suggested Citation

  • Petrus Ng & Kai-Fong Chan, 2000. "Sex Differences in Opinion Towards Mental Illness of Secondary School Students in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 46(2), pages 79-88, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:46:y:2000:i:2:p:79-88
    DOI: 10.1177/002076400004600201
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/002076400004600201
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/002076400004600201?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kee-Lee Chou & Ki-Yan Mak & Po-Kin Chung & David Chan & Kimmy Ho, 1996. "Attitudes Towards Mental Patients in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 42(3), pages 213-219, September.
    2. Adenekan O. Oyefeso, 1994. "Attitudes Towards the Work Behaviour of Ex-Mental Patients in Nigeria," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 40(1), pages 27-34, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adrian Furnham, 2009. "Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Literacy: Attitudes To, and Knowledge of, Psychotherapy," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 55(6), pages 525-537, November.
    2. Kee-Lee Chou & Ki-yan Mak, 1998. "Attitudes To Mental Patients Among Hong Kong Chinese: a Trend Study Over Two Years," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 44(3), pages 215-224, September.
    3. Adrian Furnham & Masako Murao, 2000. "A Cross-Cultural Comparison of British and Japanese Lay Theories of Schizophrenia," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 46(1), pages 4-20, March.
    4. Joshua A Williams & Ni Liu & Khalid Afzal & Brian Cooper & Renslow Sherer & Ivy Morgan & Hongmei Dong, 2014. "Positive attitudes towards psychiatry among Chinese medical students," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(1), pages 21-29, February.
    5. Kee-Lee Chou & Ki-Yan Mak & Po-Kin Chung & David Chan & Kimmy Ho, 1996. "Attitudes Towards Mental Patients in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 42(3), pages 213-219, September.
    6. Robert Sévigny & Yang Wenying & Zhang Peiyan & Jacques D. Marleau & Yang Zhouyun & Su Lin & Li GuowangUOWAN & Xu Dong & Wang Yanling & Wang Haijun, 1999. "Attitudes Toward the Mentally Ill in a Sample of Professionals Working in a Psychiatric Hospital in Beijing (China)," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 45(1), pages 41-55, March.
    7. Samir Al-Adawi & Atsu S.S. Dorvlo & Suad S. Al-Ismaily & Dalal A. Al-Ghafry & Balquis Z. Al-Noobi & Ahmed Al-Salmi & David T. Burke & Mrugeshkumar K. Shah & Harith Ghassany & Suma P. Chand, 2002. "Perception of and Attitude towards Mental Illness in Oman," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 48(4), pages 305-317, December.
    8. Marcus Y.L. Chiu & Kenneth K.L. Chan, 2007. "Community Attitudes Towards Discriminatory Practice Against People with Severe Mental Illness in Hong Kong," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 53(2), pages 159-174, March.
    9. K.F. Chung & Eric Y.H. Chen & Catherine S.M. Liu, 2001. "University Students' Attitudes Towards Mental Patients and Psychiatric Treatment," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 47(2), pages 63-72, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:46:y:2000:i:2:p:79-88. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.