Attitude of University students toward Mentally Ill individuals

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of this research is to study the attitudes of University students toward mentally ill individuals with reference to the effect of demographic variables, like gender and age.

Place of Study: Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Sample and Method:  The sample consisted of 150 university students (75 males / 75 females), age ranged between 18 years to 30+ years, enrolled in different disciplines and obtaining different levels of education (BS, BSc, MS, MSc, PhD).  A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to the random sample of students in various universities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The questionnaire contained three sections: general information, demographics and Community Attitudes toward the Mentally Ill (CAMI).

Results: The response rate was 100%. The results revealed that female university students have more positive attitudes toward mentally ill individuals (M= 103.70, SD= 9.40) than male university students (M= 88.69, SD= 8.21). Young-aged university students have more positive attitude (M= 99.81, SD= 10.37) than middle-aged (M= 98.66, SD= 12.24) and old-aged university students (M=89.80, SD= 8.57) toward mentally ill individuals.

Conclusion: It was concluded that there was non-significant difference between the attitudes of university students who have interacted with mentally ill individuals and those who have not interacted with mentally ill individuals, females had more positive attitudes than males, and young-aged university students have more positive attitudes than middle-aged and old-aged university students towards mentally ill individuals.