Abstract
A study of attitudes toward mental illness and the mentally ill compared 280 Ghanaian and 564 California high school and undergraduate college students. The Ghanaians were found: a) to be more rejecting of the mentally ill and the ex-mental patient; b) to have more beliefs in demonic forces as causative agents of mental illness; c) to have less enlightened and favorable attitudes and opinions about the care of the mentally ill; d) to be more likely to recognize psychotic symptomatologies as constituting mental il1ness; e) to be significantly influenced by their family system in their attitudes and opinions about mental illness and the mentally ill; and f) to be significantly more "external" in their personality structure than their American counterparts.