Community mental health ideology, dogmatism, and political-economic conservatism.

The Community Mental Health Ideology (CMHI) Scale, an abridged version of Rokeach's Dogmatism (D) Scale, and the five-item form of the Political-Economic Conservatism (PEC) Scale were administered to 140 members of the Massachusetts Citizen Mental Health Area Boards. The results indicate that degree of adherence to community mental health ideology as measured by the CMHI Scale is significantly negatively correlated with dogmatism and political-economic conservatism. The sample of nonprofessional citizens scored higher on the CMHI Scale than did groups of mental health professionals who had been previously studied. They also obtained scores on the D Scale and PEC Scale indicating that these lay members of mental health area boards are less dogmatic and less conservative than the groups with which these scales were originally developed.