Background It is known that stigmatising attitudes towards the mentally ill correlate with the belief that they are dangerous and violent. It is
believed that persons who evince a better understanding of mental illness are less likely to endorse stigma and discrimination. However, identifying the population at risk, who will actually benefit from such targeted education, is important.
Aims This study aimed to examine public perception of the attributes of the mentally ill and evaluate the possible correlates of such perceptions
Methods The study was a cross sectional survey in which respondents (n=2078) were administered questionnaire on sociodemographic variables, familiarity with mental illness, perceived causation of mental illness and perceived personal attributes of mental illness Results Dangerousness stereotype was endorsed by 1203 (57.9%) respondents while dependency stereotype was endorsed by 438 (21.1%). Perceived dangerousness was significantly associated with female sex (OR 3.42, 95% Cl 2.83- 4.14), urban dwelling (OR 5.02, 95% Cl 3.96-6.36) and biological causal beliefs (OR 2.53, 95% Cl 2.05-3.12) while perceived dependency was significantly correlated with having cared/caring for the mentally ill (6.90, 95%Cl 4.47-10.66) and psychosocial causal beliefs (OR 4.67,95% Cl 3.67- 5.93). Conclusions In public education on mental illness, specific information
should be targeted at specific population groups in order to change the negative stereotypes of the mentally ill.
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