Ten Years Since Its Definition and Validation: The Mental Disorder Causal Beliefs Scale

A widely known self-report scale, the Mental Disorder Causal Beliefs (MDCB), assesses people’s beliefs about the etiology of mental illnesses, which have been shown to play a major role in stigma toward them. The purpose of the present research was to investigate the psychometric properties of the MDCB scale 10 years after its development. In Study 1 (N = 601), the factorial structure of the MDCB scale was investigated. The results showed that the MDCB scale has a bifactorial structure with good fit indexes and psychometric properties: two different poles/components (biological and psychological) and an overarching latent factor. Hence, this scale resulted to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess the participants’ beliefs regarding the etiology of mental illness. In Study 2 (N = 3,009), a network analysis was carried out to deeply explore the relationships among the key aspects of causal beliefs about mental health disorders. The results highlighted the relationships within and between the two components—showing how they are part of a unique overarching architecture related to causal beliefs toward mental illness. These findings shed light on the intricate relationships between key aspects of causal beliefs about mental health disorders. This deeper exploration offers clinicians a nuanced understanding of how these beliefs interact and influence treatments beliefs and stigmatizing attitudes toward mental illness. Armed with this knowledge, mental health professionals can develop targeted interventions aimed at challenging stigmatizing attitudes and promoting greater awareness and acceptance of mental health issues within clinical settings and the broader community.