Mental health literacy toward schizophrenia in college students from El Salvador and the United States of America

Abstract

The present study tested the hypothesis that El Salvador (E.S.) college students will show less knowledge, recognition, and help-seeking attitudes, and more social distance and negative attributions toward schizophrenia than will U.S. students. It is also of interest in this study to investigate if E.S. college students would have lower mental health literacy and thus, more social distance attitudes toward schizophrenia, than would U.S. students. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) was used. The predicted variable was country of membership: El Salvador and the U.S. The predictors were recognition, knowledge, social distance, helpseeking attitudes, and negative attribution toward schizophrenic patients. The participants (N = 340) were students from a university in E.S. and in California. Through a survey, participants were asked to diagnose a person described in a case vignette. Knowledge of schizophrenia and social distance attitudes were measured. Principal component analyses using oblimin rotation were conducted to build composite factors from the observed variables. The discriminant function accurately predicted 74.4% of the participants' country of membership, χ2(1) = 75.23, p < 0.001. At the individual level, 69.9% of individuals from the U.S. and 77.5% of individuals from E.S. were correctly classified. Furthermore, results indicated that U.S. students recognized schizophrenia at a higher rate, compared to E.S. students. In the E.S. group, social distance attitudes differed with level of MHL. These findings are troublesome in that social distance attitudes inhibit help-seeking behavior. Education programs aimed at promoting mental health awareness among the E.S. population are indicated.