Lay images of mental illness: Social knowledge and tolerance of the mentally ill

It is argued that demographic factors alone fail to account for public attitudes toward mental illness. Medical and moral lay images of mental illness provide a knowledge base from which tolerance arises. Path analysis of data obtained from 713 rural Tennessee adults indicated low tolerance among those endorsing either lay image. Demographic background variables exerted no direct effects upon tolerance-these effects were mediated by lay images. Comparison of these data with research on attitudes toward alcoholism brings into question the relevance of attributed responsibility for different types of deviant behavior. Finally, the study raises questions regarding the assumption that greater knowledge and understanding will necessarily yield greater tolerance of deviance.