Publications by Ilan Dar-Nimrod
Personality and Individual Differences , 2020
Previous theory suggests that women's sexual response patterns are more dependent on cultural con... more Previous theory suggests that women's sexual response patterns are more dependent on cultural context than men's. However, there is little empirical data on culture-based sexual responding between women versus men using psychophysiological methods. In this study, we used eye-tracking to compare the visual attention patterns to explicit sexual stimuli among heterosexual women and men of Asian and White ethnicity residing in Australia. Overall, we found greater variability in Asian versus White women's sexual responding to erotic material than in Asian vs. White men. When gazing at explicit images of men, women, and couples engaged in sex acts, Asian women demonstrated greater visual avoidance of genital regions than White women. Lower sexual sensation-seeking fully mediated Asian women's greater visual avoidance of genital regions in solo images, and partly mediated their greater avoidance of genital-contact regions in couple images. Asian men showed broadly similar attentional patterns to White men, except for reduced attention to facial regions of males. Neither sensation-seeking nor disgust explained Asian men's lower fixation on male faces. Our findings suggest that cultural effects on sexual responding are more accentuated in women than men, supporting the view that sexual responses vary by ethnicity and culturally-differentiated mediators, particularly for women.
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Health Communication, 2020
The “viral” nature of information transmission has the potential to transmit both accurate and in... more The “viral” nature of information transmission has the potential to transmit both accurate and inaccurate information. The present experiment examines the social transmission of health information, focusing on disorder etiology. Participants were placed in one of three generations of social transmission chains. The first generation read information concerning one of four fictitious disorders, pairing one disorder (Physiological or Psychological) with one etiology (Genetic or Environmental). Then, to ensure minimal loss of information (which is common in open-ended recollections), participants recalled key aspects of the disorders through multiple-choice questions. Their selections were used to modify the vignettes for the second generation and the third generation read the second’s recollections. All participants also evaluated diagnosed patients on social distance and disgust. Findings suggest that genetic etiology was better recalled when paired with a psychological disorder than a physiological one. Participants desired more social distance from psychological disorders’ patients (regardless of etiology) and showed higher disgust for environmental etiological patients (regardless of disorder). Imp
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Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2020
Recent literature has described the phenomenon of “straight-acting” gay men: gay men who identify... more Recent literature has described the phenomenon of “straight-acting” gay men: gay men who identify with traditional heteronormative masculinity. The current study examined predictors of “straight-acting” identification in gay men and how identifying as straight-acting relates to well-being. A sample of Australian gay men (N = 966) provided self-report data on two potential predictors of straight-acting identity: self-perceived masculinity and internalized homophobia. A path analysis assessed how these variables related to straight-acting identification. While masculine self-presentation positively predicted well-being and internalized homophobia negatively predicted well-being, straight-acting identification, which positively correlated with both, did not independently predict either psychological distress or physical well-being. Analyses further suggested that internalized homophobia had particularly deleterious effects among gay men who were more feminine. Implications for clinical and public health interventions among gay men are discussed.
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Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2020
Past visual attention research appears to show that bisexual men and women view erotic images dif... more Past visual attention research appears to show that bisexual men and women view erotic images differently compared to heterosexual and gay/lesbian men and women. However, none of these studies have employed analytic approaches required to determine whether these apparent bisexual viewing patterns are due to averaging together heterosexual and gay/lesbian type viewing patterns, or rather are because bisexual-identified individuals possess unique viewing patterns which are distinct from heterosexual and gay/lesbian individuals. In the current eye-tracking study, we aimed to address this question. Visual attention of 60 men (24 heterosexual, 19 gay, 17 bisexual) and 54 women (21 heterosexual, 10 lesbian, 23 bisexual) was tracked, while they viewed erotic images of nude men and women. Applying analytic approaches capable of detecting bisexual responding revealed that bisexual men, but not bisexual women, had a unique bisexual controlled attention pattern, and that neither bisexual men nor women demonstrated a unique bisexual pattern of initial attention. Our findings provide mixed evidence for a unique bisexual attentional profile in men and women.
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British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2019
Objectives: Death anxiety has been implicated theoretically and empirically in mental health, and... more Objectives: Death anxiety has been implicated theoretically and empirically in mental health, and has been proposed to be a transdiagnostic construct. However, it has largely been investigated in relation to specific disorders, such as obsessive compulsive disorder. Few studies have assessed the relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology using heterogeneous treatment-seeking clinical samples.
Methods: In the present study, the relationships between death anxiety and broad markers of psychopathology were explored in 200 treatment-seeking participants with various diagnosed mental disorders.
Results: Across the sample, death anxiety was a strong predictor of psychopathology, including the number of lifetime diagnoses, medications, hospitalisations, distress/impairment, depression, anxiety, and stress. This relationship was not accounted for by neuroticism. Large to very large correlations were also consistently found between a measure of death anxiety and the symptom severity of 12 disorders. Neither meaning in life nor attachment style moderated the associations between death fears and psychopathology.
Conclusions: The findings reveal a strong relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology across numerous disorders, further supporting the transdiagnostic role of fears of death. As such, clinical implications revolve around the potential need for innovative treatments which address death fears directly, in order to produce long-term improvements in mental health. However, experimental research is needed to ascertain causal relationships.
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Journal of Abnormal Psychology , 2020
Accumulated empirical evidence suggests that death anxiety is strongly associated with multiple m... more Accumulated empirical evidence suggests that death anxiety is strongly associated with multiple mental health conditions. Despite this, few studies have experimentally explored whether manipulating reminders of death could influence the symptoms of mental illnesses. The present, pre-registered study used a mortality salience design to assess whether death reminders could increase anxious behaviour (i.e., time spent scanning one’s body, identification with images consistent with poorer health, and intention to visit a medical practitioner) among individuals with relevant disorders. A total of 128 treatment-seeking participants with either a body scanning disorder (i.e., panic disorder, illness anxiety, or somatic symptom disorder) or a non-scanning disorder (i.e., depression) were randomly allocated to either a mortality salience or control condition. Following this, participants were presented with a series of images of various body parts, which purportedly predicted particular life outcomes, and asked to check their own body and select the image that most closely matched their own. As hypothesised, the results revealed that mortality salience produced an overall increase in all three anxiety-related behaviours. Further, mortality salience selectively increased scanning duration and identification with images indicating poorer health for individuals with a scanning disorder. This effect only occurred when participants were told the body part predicted a health-relevant outcome. In contrast, mortality salience increased intention to visit a medical specialist regardless of one’s disorder. The findings support theoretical predictions that death anxiety may have a causal role in multiple mental disorders.
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Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2020
Recent theoretical and empirical research has demonstrated a relationship between death anxiety a... more Recent theoretical and empirical research has demonstrated a relationship between death anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with a focus on compulsive washing. However, no study has examined whether death anxiety plays an important role across various symptom domains of OCD. The present studies explored the relationship between death anxiety and OCD subtypes across two independent samples of treatment-seeking individuals with this disorder. In Study 1, results from 79 participants demonstrated significant correlations between the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale and each Vancouver Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (VOCI) subscale. In Study 2, these results were largely replicated using the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale in a larger sample of 132 participants. Lastly, results from integrating the samples indicated that the strength of these relationships, although substantial for all types, varied slightly across the subtypes of OCD. Taken together, the findings demonstrate a strong relationship between death anxiety and the differing forms of OCD. Clinical implications include the possibility that fears of death may need to be directly addressed in order to produce long-term symptom amelioration. However, further research is needed to establish the potential causal role of death anxiety across different OCD subtypes.
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Nordic Journal of Psychiatry , 2020
Objectives: A body of research has demonstrated high rates of comorbidity among individuals with ... more Objectives: A body of research has demonstrated high rates of comorbidity among individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Further, recent empirical evidence has demonstrated the relevance of death anxiety in OCD. Given that the trajectory towards OCD remains unclear, the current study aimed to examine which disorders individuals typically experience prior to the onset of this disorder. Further, the study aimed to explore the role of death anxiety in the developmental pathways to the disorder.
Methods: The present study involved administering a measure of death anxiety and conducting structured diagnostic interviews among a treatment-seeking sample of 98 individuals with OCD.
Results: First, the findings revealed a number of anxiety-related disorders commonly experienced prior to the development of OCD, the most frequent of which were separation anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and generalised anxiety disorder. Second, consistent with hypotheses, individuals with higher death anxiety experienced more disorders prior to the onset of OCD. Conversely, those with lower fears of death were significantly more likely to develop OCD as their first disorder.
Conclusions: These findings support the argument that death anxiety may influence the trajectory towards OCD, and the comorbidity among anxiety-related disorders. However, further research is needed to clarify whether death anxiety plays a causal role in this trajectory.
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Behavior Genetics, 2019
When explaining the causes of human behavior, genes are often given special status. They are thou... more When explaining the causes of human behavior, genes are often given special status. They are thought to relate to an intrinsic human ‘essence’, and essentialist biases have been shown to skew the way in which causation as assessed. Causal reasoning in general is subject to other pre-existing biases, including beliefs about normativity and morality. In this synthesis we show how factors which influence causal reasoning can be mapped to a framework of genetic essentialism. This reveals both the shared and unique factors which underpin biases in causal reasoning and genetic essentialism. This comparison identifies overlooked areas of research which could provide fruitful investigation, such as whether normative assessments of behaviors influence the way that genetic causes are ascribed or endorsed. We also outline the importance of distinguishing reasoning processes regarding genetic causal influences on one’s self versus others, as different cognitive processes and biases are likely to be at play.
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Public Health Genomics , 2018
Background: Genetic knowledge, which plays important functions in our understanding of science, h... more Background: Genetic knowledge, which plays important functions in our understanding of science, health, social groupings, and even behaviour, has been evaluated in past studies with various populations. This wide reach of genetics means that different types of items are used to assess genetic knowledge, which restricts meaningful comparisons across time- and locale-based studies.
Aim: The present study addresses this limitation by recruiting an Australia-wide sample and evaluating their genetic knowledge using items sourced from four diverse samples.
Method: Seven-hundred and eighty Australians completed a variety of items assessing their genetic knowledge as well as several demographic indicators.
Results: The results show superior overall genetic knowledge in the current sample compared with previous samples. Additionally, the study finds that genetic knowledge about health and illness seems to be the most accurate, whereas such knowledge about social categorisations and behaviours seem to be the most error-prone. In the current sample, being a female and having interest in genetics were positive predictors of genetic knowledge; surprisingly educational attainment was not a significant predictor.
Conclusion: Compared with previous surveys, the current sample showed significantly better genetic knowledge. However, certain areas that relate to public understating still indicate rampant misperceptions.
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Personality and Individual Differences, 2019
Previous theory suggests that women’s sexual response patterns are more dependent on cultural con... more Previous theory suggests that women’s sexual response patterns are more dependent on cultural context than men’s. However, there is little empirical data on culture-based sexual responding between women and men. In this study, we used eye-tracking to compare the visual attention patterns to explicit sexual stimuli among heterosexual women and men of Asian and White ethnicity. Overall, we found greater variability in Asian vs. White women’s sexual responding to erotic material than in Asian vs. White men. When gazing at explicit images of men, women, and couples engaged in sex acts, Asian women demonstrated greater visual avoidance of genital regions than White women. Lower sexual sensation-seeking fully mediated Asian women’s greater visual avoidance of genital regions in solo images, and partly mediated their greater avoidance of genital-contact regions in couple images. Asian men showed broadly similar attentional patterns to White men, except for reduced attention to facial regions of males. Neither sensation-seeking nor disgust explained Asian men’s lower fixation on male faces. Our findings suggest that cultural effects on sexual responding are more accentuated in women than in men, further supporting that sexual interests and behaviors vary by ethnicity and culturally-differentiated mediators, particularly for women.
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Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2019
Individuals who report mostly heterosexual orientations (i.e., mostly sexually attracted to the o... more Individuals who report mostly heterosexual orientations (i.e., mostly sexually attracted to the opposite sex, but occasionally attracted to the same sex) outnumber all other non-heterosexual individuals combined. The present study examined whether mostly heterosexual men and women view same-and other-sex sexual stimuli differently than exclusively heterosexual men and women. A novel eye-tracking paradigm was used with 162 mostly and exclusively heterosexual men and women. Compared to exclusively heterosexual men, mostly heterosexual men demonstrated greater attention to sexually explicit features (i.e., genital regions and genital contact regions) of solo male and male-male erotic stimuli, while demonstrating equivalent attention to sexually explicit features of solo female and female-female erotic stimuli. Mediation analyses suggested that differences between mostly and exclusively heterosexual profiles in men could be explained by mostly heterosexual men's increased sexual attraction to solo male erotica, and their increased sexual attraction and reduced disgust to the male-male erotica. No comparable differences in attention were observed between mostly and exclusively heterosexual women-although mostly heterosexual women did demonstrate greater fixation on visual erotica overall-a pattern of response that was found to be mediated by reduced disgust.
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PLoS ONE, 2019
Biased transmission of health knowledge has far-reaching effects on information reproduction and ... more Biased transmission of health knowledge has far-reaching effects on information reproduction and health-related cognitions. We examined whether transmissions of different types of disorder and etiological information influence recollections of health knowledge and evaluations of patients, by simulating the digital transmission of information. Transmission chains of four non-interacting persons (i.e., four generations) were formed. The first generation read three vignettes describing fictitious patients with one of three disorders (physiological, psychological, culture-bound) uniquely paired with one of three etiologies (genetic, environmental , unknown etiology). Next, they evaluated patients' well-being, rated desired social distance, and recalled the vignettes. These written recollections replaced the original vignettes for a second-generation of participants, whose recollections were used for the third generation and so on. The framing of disorders affected recollections of etiology, in which culture-bound framings resulted in the poorest recall of etiologies. Participants also perceived the culture-bound disorder as the least serious but desired the most social distance from patients diagnosed with it, when compared to other disorders. The study showed that health information is selectively attended to and reproduced, possibly affected by perceived self-relevance. Faulty recollections and framing of disorders affect health cognitions, potentially instigating biased transmission of disorder-and patient-related narratives.
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Heliyon, 2019
Research into the causes and outcomes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been... more Research into the causes and outcomes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been extensive, yet little is known about the perception of ADHD as a disorder and its related outcomes among diagnosed youth. The present study applied the Common-Sense Model of Illness Representations (CSM) to examine the perception of ADHD and its association with quality of life (QoL), coping strategies, and treatment adherence among 63 diagnosed adolescents (10-18 years). Adolescents recruited from clinics, parent support groups, and an educational service completed self-report measures of the key constructs. Results indicated that adolescents generally perceive their ADHD as mildly threatening; four illness beliefs (perceived impact, personal control, timeline, and coherence) are significant predictors of coping and four (perceived impact, causes, personal control, and treatment control) are that of QoL. Adolescents who perceived minimal impact, expected longer duration, had strong sense of coherence, and believed in personal control of ADHD coped with the disorder more actively. Those who made weaker attribution to psychological and environmental causes, believed in personal control and the effectiveness of behavioral treatment enjoyed better QoL. In addition, female adolescents seem to experience more difficulties in the management of ADHD than male counterparts. These findings have potentially important clinical implications, suggesting that perceptions of ADHD related to the disorder's impact, duration, coherence, and personal control, may be important for clinicians to address when caring for adolescents with the disorder.
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Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2018
Death anxiety has been proposed as a transdiagnostic construct, underlying numerous mental disord... more Death anxiety has been proposed as a transdiagnostic construct, underlying numerous mental disorders. Although it has been argued that treatments, which reduce death anxiety, are needed, research investigating the impact of interventions on death fears has produced mixed results. As such, the current meta-analysis aimed to examine the effect of psychosocial interventions on death anxiety. Overall, results from 15 randomised controlled trials suggested that psychosocial treatments produced significant reductions in death anxiety, with a small to medium effect size (g = .45). Intervention type (death education vs. therapy) did not significantly moderate the effect of intervention on death anxiety (g = -.47). However, therapy type was a significant moderator of treatment efficacy (g = -1.39). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy was found to be particularly efficacious, producing significant reductions in death anxiety relative to control (g = 1.7), whereas other therapies did not (g = 0.20). The number of treatment sessions and baseline death anxiety significantly moderated intervention efficacy, whereas the duration of the intervention, training of the interventionist, and clinical nature of the sample did not. Given the small number and generally low quality of the included studies, future research using more rigorous methodology, as well as clinical samples, is needed.
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Psychological Bulletin, 2011
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Appetite, 2014
Public discourse on genetic predispositions for obesity has flourished in recent decades. In thre... more Public discourse on genetic predispositions for obesity has flourished in recent decades. In three studies, we investigated behaviorally-relevant correlates and consequences of a perceived genetic etiology for obesity. In Study 1, beliefs about etiological explanations for obesity were assessed. Stronger endorsement of genetic etiology was predictive of a belief that obese people have no control over their weight. In Study 2, beliefs about weight and its causes were assessed following a manipulation of the perceived underlying cause. Compared with a genetic attribution, a non-genetic physiological attribution led to increased perception of control over one’s weight. In Study 3, participants read a fictional media report presenting either a genetic explanation, a psychosocial explanation, or no explanation (control) for obesity. Results indicated that participants who read the genetic explanation ate significantly more on a followup task. Taken together, these studies demonstrate potential effects of genetic attributions for obesity.
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Science, Jan 1, 2006
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American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry , 2012
Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that neuroticism moderates the association between APOE (apo... more Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that neuroticism moderates the association between APOE (apolipoprotein E) genotype and two major outcomes, cognitive function and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We also explored whether other personality dimensions (extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) moderate the associations of APOE with these outcomes. Design: Primary analyses of existing randomized clinical trial data. Sample: Six-hundred and two older adults (mean age of 78 at baseline). Measurements: APOE genotype, the NEO-Five Factor Inventory, the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale- cognitive (ADAS-COG: measured every 6 months for 6.5 years) and relevant covariates. Results: Fully adjusted multivariate analyses showed that the association between the presence of APOE ε-4 allele(s) and both outcomes was evident among individuals with high levels of neuroticism and extraversion but not among persons with low levels of these traits. Conclusions: Phenotypic personality dimensions, primarily neuroticism and extraversion, moderate the relationship between APOE ε-4 genotype and cognitive outcomes among older adults. Future research is needed to elucidate the physiological processes involved in these particular phenotype-genotype interactions.
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Publications by Ilan Dar-Nimrod
Methods: In the present study, the relationships between death anxiety and broad markers of psychopathology were explored in 200 treatment-seeking participants with various diagnosed mental disorders.
Results: Across the sample, death anxiety was a strong predictor of psychopathology, including the number of lifetime diagnoses, medications, hospitalisations, distress/impairment, depression, anxiety, and stress. This relationship was not accounted for by neuroticism. Large to very large correlations were also consistently found between a measure of death anxiety and the symptom severity of 12 disorders. Neither meaning in life nor attachment style moderated the associations between death fears and psychopathology.
Conclusions: The findings reveal a strong relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology across numerous disorders, further supporting the transdiagnostic role of fears of death. As such, clinical implications revolve around the potential need for innovative treatments which address death fears directly, in order to produce long-term improvements in mental health. However, experimental research is needed to ascertain causal relationships.
Methods: The present study involved administering a measure of death anxiety and conducting structured diagnostic interviews among a treatment-seeking sample of 98 individuals with OCD.
Results: First, the findings revealed a number of anxiety-related disorders commonly experienced prior to the development of OCD, the most frequent of which were separation anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and generalised anxiety disorder. Second, consistent with hypotheses, individuals with higher death anxiety experienced more disorders prior to the onset of OCD. Conversely, those with lower fears of death were significantly more likely to develop OCD as their first disorder.
Conclusions: These findings support the argument that death anxiety may influence the trajectory towards OCD, and the comorbidity among anxiety-related disorders. However, further research is needed to clarify whether death anxiety plays a causal role in this trajectory.
Aim: The present study addresses this limitation by recruiting an Australia-wide sample and evaluating their genetic knowledge using items sourced from four diverse samples.
Method: Seven-hundred and eighty Australians completed a variety of items assessing their genetic knowledge as well as several demographic indicators.
Results: The results show superior overall genetic knowledge in the current sample compared with previous samples. Additionally, the study finds that genetic knowledge about health and illness seems to be the most accurate, whereas such knowledge about social categorisations and behaviours seem to be the most error-prone. In the current sample, being a female and having interest in genetics were positive predictors of genetic knowledge; surprisingly educational attainment was not a significant predictor.
Conclusion: Compared with previous surveys, the current sample showed significantly better genetic knowledge. However, certain areas that relate to public understating still indicate rampant misperceptions.
Methods: In the present study, the relationships between death anxiety and broad markers of psychopathology were explored in 200 treatment-seeking participants with various diagnosed mental disorders.
Results: Across the sample, death anxiety was a strong predictor of psychopathology, including the number of lifetime diagnoses, medications, hospitalisations, distress/impairment, depression, anxiety, and stress. This relationship was not accounted for by neuroticism. Large to very large correlations were also consistently found between a measure of death anxiety and the symptom severity of 12 disorders. Neither meaning in life nor attachment style moderated the associations between death fears and psychopathology.
Conclusions: The findings reveal a strong relationship between death anxiety and psychopathology across numerous disorders, further supporting the transdiagnostic role of fears of death. As such, clinical implications revolve around the potential need for innovative treatments which address death fears directly, in order to produce long-term improvements in mental health. However, experimental research is needed to ascertain causal relationships.
Methods: The present study involved administering a measure of death anxiety and conducting structured diagnostic interviews among a treatment-seeking sample of 98 individuals with OCD.
Results: First, the findings revealed a number of anxiety-related disorders commonly experienced prior to the development of OCD, the most frequent of which were separation anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and generalised anxiety disorder. Second, consistent with hypotheses, individuals with higher death anxiety experienced more disorders prior to the onset of OCD. Conversely, those with lower fears of death were significantly more likely to develop OCD as their first disorder.
Conclusions: These findings support the argument that death anxiety may influence the trajectory towards OCD, and the comorbidity among anxiety-related disorders. However, further research is needed to clarify whether death anxiety plays a causal role in this trajectory.
Aim: The present study addresses this limitation by recruiting an Australia-wide sample and evaluating their genetic knowledge using items sourced from four diverse samples.
Method: Seven-hundred and eighty Australians completed a variety of items assessing their genetic knowledge as well as several demographic indicators.
Results: The results show superior overall genetic knowledge in the current sample compared with previous samples. Additionally, the study finds that genetic knowledge about health and illness seems to be the most accurate, whereas such knowledge about social categorisations and behaviours seem to be the most error-prone. In the current sample, being a female and having interest in genetics were positive predictors of genetic knowledge; surprisingly educational attainment was not a significant predictor.
Conclusion: Compared with previous surveys, the current sample showed significantly better genetic knowledge. However, certain areas that relate to public understating still indicate rampant misperceptions.