The lay concept of "mental disorder" among American undergraduates

Lay concepts of "mental disorder" were investigated in a pilot study of beliefs about 68 conditions, 47 of which corresponded to DSM-IV mental disorders. Undergraduates who had no formal education in abnormal psychology rated the conditions on features proposed in technical definitions of "mental disorder" and judged whether the conditions were mental disorders. The features composed three dimensions-social deviancy, harmful dysfunction, and peculiarity-the last two of which were strongly and independently associated with judgments of mental disorder (R = 0.83). Lay and DSM-IV understandings of "mental disorder" showed moderate convergence.