Schizophrenia and Attractiveness

Dawnielle Avarell

Chris Ouellette

Fort Lewis College

Background

• Stereotypes of Attractiveness

• Public Perceptions of Mental Illness

• Gender differences in views of Mental Illness

• Views on Schizophrenia– Professional– Public

Stereotypes

• Grant, Button, Hannah & Ross (2002)

• Attractive stereotypes

Public Perception

• Rooney (2000)

• “Hearing Other Voices”

• Link & Phelan (1999)

• “Public Conceptions of Mental Illness”

Gender Differences

• Ng & Chan (2000)

• Six Factors

• Benevolence, Separatism, Stereotyping, Restrictiveness, Pessimistic Prediction, and Stigmatation

Views on Schizophrenia

• Professional

• Caldwell & Jorm (2000)

• Public

• Schulze, Richter-Werling, Matschinger & Angermeyer (2003)

Research Question

Will attractiveness and the knowledge of schizophrenia affect peoples views on the

characteristics of target male subjects?

Variables

• Independent– Schizophrenia

– Attractiveness

• Dependent – Friendliness

– Aggressiveness

– Loneliness

– Dangerousness

– Attractiveness

– Caring

– Depression

Procedure

• A convenient sample of 76 undergraduate Fort Lewis students, were asked to volunteer to participate in our survey.

• 30 were presented via PowerPoint in a classroom, 46 were presented with color photos and asked to do the survey.

Subjects

GENDER

39 48.8 51.3 51.3

37 46.3 48.7 100.0

76 95.0 100.0

4 5.0

80 100.0

male

female

Total

Valid

SystemMissing

Total

Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative

Percent

Photos

Survey

• Please take a few moments to examine the projected picture; his name is Jeff. Jeff is 23 years old. He is a junior at a near by college majoring in Business. He enjoys school and has a “B” average. Jeff is working at the front desk in the local Recreational Center. He enjoys his job and the people that he works with. He likes to mountain bike and rock climb with his two roommates. They all live in a nice apartment close to Jeff’s work and school. Jeff has schizophrenia and regularly takes medication for the disease.

Results for Males

  Attractiveness Aggressiveness Dangerousness Loneliness

Attractive Schizophrenic

3.00(1.33)

3.00(1.05)

3.60(1.17)

3.50(1.18)

Attractive Not Schizophrenic

3.60(1.71)

3.40(1.17)

4.20(1.55)

3.50(1.35)

Not Attractive Schizophrenic

3.13(1.73)

4.50(1.31)

4.88(.99)

2.75(1.49)

Not Attractive Not Schizophrenic

4.27(1.35)

3.73(1.27)

4.09(1.58)

3.45(.93)

Results for Females

  Attractiveness Aggressiveness Dangerousness Loneliness

Attractive Schizophrenic

3.56(1.13)

3.22(.97)

4.78(.83)

3.56(1.13)

Attractive Not Schizophrenic

4.40(1.78)

2.90(.99)

3.40(1.51)

4.40(1.78)

Not Attractive Schizophrenic

3.50(.53)

4.25(1.39)

3.75(1.28)

3.50(.53)

Not Attractive Not Schizophrenic

2.90(1.45)

4.60(1.07)

4.10(1.37)

2.90(1.45)

Attractiveness

• There was a significant main effect between attractiveness of the photo and attractiveness ratings, F (1, 76) = 18.15, p = .0005

• There was a significant interaction between subject gender and schizophrenia on ratings of attractiveness, F (1, 76) = 5.55, p = .021

• There was a significant interaction between subject gender, attractiveness and ratings of attractiveness, F (1, 76) = 8.45, p = .003

Attractiveness

Male Estimated Marginal

Means of Attractiveness

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

4.4

4.2

4.0

3.8

3.6

3.4

3.2

3.0

2.8

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Female Estimated Marginal

Means of Attractiveness

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

6

5

4

3

2

1

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Aggressiveness

• There was a significant main effect between attractiveness and aggressiveness, F(1, 76) = 18.21, p = .0005

• There was a marginally significant interaction between subject gender, schizophrenia information and attractiveness on ratings of aggressiveness, F (1, 76) = 2.987, p = .088

Aggressiveness

Male Estimated Marginal

Means of Aggression

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

5.0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Female Estimated Marginal

Means on Aggression

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

5.0

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Dangerousness

• There was a significant interaction between subject gender, schizophrenia information and attractiveness on ratings of dangerousness, F (1, 76) = 6.43, p = .014.

Dangerousness

Male Estimated Marginal

Means of Dangerousness

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

5.0

4.8

4.6

4.4

4.2

4.0

3.8

3.6

3.4

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Female Estimated Marginal

Means of Dangerousness

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

5.0

4.8

4.6

4.4

4.2

4.0

3.8

3.6

3.4

3.2

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Loneliness

• There was a marginally significant main effect of attractiveness on rating of loneliness, F (1, 76) = 3.91, p = .052

• There was a marginally significant interaction between subject gender, schizophrenia information and attractiveness on ratings of loneliness, F (1, 76) = 3.26, p = .075

Loneliness

Male Estimated Marginal

Means of Lonely

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

3.6

3.4

3.2

3.0

2.8

2.6

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Female Estimated Marginal

Means of Lonely

Photo

not attractiveattractive

Est

ima

ted

Ma

rgin

al M

ea

ns

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

Schizophrenic

schizophrenic

not schizophrenic

Further Research

• Larger samples

• Male and Female photos

• Explore different disorders

Thank You!

Any Questions?