Pariah or Paragon? student teachers' evaluations of enrolling mentally ill students

The notion that student teachers are less accepting of mentally ill than of normal students was investigated. Student teachers read case descriptions of a student who had been hospitalized for schizophrenia (mentally ill student), a student who had been hospitalized for crushed legs (accident student), and a student who had recently moved (transfer student). Teachers were told that the students were being considered for either their own classes or for another class. The accident and transfer students were evaluated more positively than the mentally ill student, who was not differentially evaluated as a result of being considered for placement in the teacher's own class or another class. Implications for revealing potentially stigmatizing information about mental illness to teachers were discussed.