Cross-national comparisons of projected social distances from mental patient-related stimuli

A figure-placement procedure was used to assess attitudes toward mental patients and related items by measuring projected social distances which students from Australia, Great Britain, South Africa, and the U.S.A. perceived between themselves and several pertinent stimuli. While all male students responded similarly to all items, the responses of the female students were only similar on the neutral items and showed significant differences on the mental patient-related items. However, for all students the items "Mental Hospital," "Male," and "Female Mental Patient" were always most distant. The power of attraction to the opposite sex for most male students was interesting; despite differences between groups, none reflected such attraction for the "Female Mental Patient."