Women Showed Greater Openness to Interacting With Person Disclosing Schizophrenia Diagnosis

On average, women demonstrated greater willingness to socially interact with a person who disclosed a diagnosis of schizophrenia than men did. Researchers from the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of Arkansas reached this conclusion in an experiment focused on the stigmatization of mental disorders and the perception of creative abilities.

The study involved 308 participants recruited through Prolific, though data from one participant was excluded from the final analysis. Subjects were shown a fictional Facebook profile and two details were randomly varied: the character either disclosed a diagnosis of schizophrenia or did not, and a poem they wrote was either accepted for publication or rejected.

Participants then rated on a seven-point scale how willing they were to interact with the person. Questions covered various forms of engagement, such as liking a post or leaving a comment, becoming friends, or considering the character as a potential romantic partner.

Importantly, the researchers combined all six questions into a single composite measure of interaction interest. Consequently, the results do not support individual claims that women were more likely to want to date or enter a relationship with someone with schizophrenia.

The full study was published in EvoS Journal.

Largest Difference Emerged After Creative Failure

On average, women showed slightly greater willingness to interact with the character regardless of other conditions: 2.99 points versus 2.64 for men.

However, the most pronounced difference emerged in a specific scenario—when the person disclosed a schizophrenia diagnosis and their poem was rejected for publication. The average rating among women was 3.31 out of seven, compared to 2.29 for men. The difference was statistically significant.

When the same character disclosed the diagnosis but had their poem published successfully, ratings between men and women no longer differed significantly—2.66 and 2.88, respectively.

This finding was somewhat unexpected. The authors originally hypothesized that creative success might reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness, but the successful publication of the poem itself did not increase interest in interaction.

Researchers suggest that higher ratings from women may be linked to generally higher empathy and a more tolerant attitude toward people with mental health conditions. However, this is only one possible explanation, as the experiment did not directly test the underlying causal mechanism.

Study Says Nothing About Real-World Partner Choice

The study does not support popular claims that women are somehow “attracted to men with schizophrenia.” The character’s gender was not explicitly highlighted in the experiment, and participants evaluated a fictional profile and overall willingness to interact with it, rather than choosing an actual romantic partner.

Furthermore, the entire experiment centered around a single short social media post. The authors themselves note that real-world social relationships are far more complex and require further research.

Substance use also has no relevance to the study—this factor was not examined in the experiment at all.

Ultimately, the study highlights differences in how men and women respond to the disclosure of a psychiatric diagnosis and its associated stereotypes, rather than any patterns in romantic preferences.