The role of secure attachment, empathic self-efficacy, and stress perception in causal beliefs related to mental illness – a cross-cultural study: Italy versus Israel

Figures & data

Table 1 Etiological belief measures: all participants, Italy and Israel

Variables	Category	Italy	Israel	Italy	Israel	Italy vs Israel	Item content examples
		measure		SE		contrast
Gender	Male	0.02	−0.38	0.04	0.04	0.40*	Mental health professionals most probably underestimate the causal relationship between brain damage and a mental disorder
	Female	−0.02	0.38	0.03	0.04	−0.40*	A good relationship and communication style among family members determine healthy psychological development (R)
Religious	Yes	0.00	−0.67	0.03	0.04	0.67*	The kind of nervous system you are born with has little to do with the possibility that you become/do not become psychotic (R)
	No	0.00	0.67	0.03	0.04	−0.67*	If society would pay more attention to peoples’ needs, most probably mental illness would decrease (R)
Secure attachment	High	0.01	0.44	0.05	0.04	−0.43*	If a person grows up in a deprived or bad family and social environment, (s)he will not most probably have a normal psychological development (R)
	Medium	0.00	0.34	0.03	0.05	−0.34*	Childhood traumas, such as sexual abuse in a very violent family environment, might impede healthy mental development (R)
	Low	−0.02	−0.79	0.04	0.04	0.77*	A social environment lacking future perspective could be a fertile ground for the onset of mental illness (R)
Empathic self-efficacy	High	0.01	−0.14	0.05	0.03	0.15*	Among people obliged to live in very stressful conditions, those who are most likely to collapse under tension are individuals who are psychologically weak due to hereditary factors
	Medium	−0.03	0.33	0.03	0.05	−0.36*	A repressive family system where it is impossible to manifest intense emotions, particularly anger, can induce an individual to become mentally ill (R)
	Low	0.03	−0.18	0.03	0.04	0.21*	More money should be invested to identify good methods for children’s education instead of financing research for the biogenetic underpinnings of mental disorders (R)
Stress	High	−0.02	0.13	0.04	0.04	−0.15*	Trying to solve a real life problem over and over again without any success might cause mental illness (R)
	Medium	0.02	−0.06	0.04	0.03	0.08	Our society often favors the development of pathological behaviors by pushing people to long for success, but without giving them the right opportunities and instruments to reach it (R)
	Low	−0.01	−0.07	0.04	0.06	0.06	If parents were supported by social policies in their parental roles and duties, they would be highly likely to bring up mentally healthy children (R)

Notes:

* p<0.001. (R) represents a reversed item. A positive contrast value means that the Italians attributed mental disorders to biogenetic causes more often than the Israelis. A negative contrast value means that the Israelis attributed mental disorders to biogenetic causes more often than the Italians.

Abbreviation: SE, standard error.