Biomedical subjects

A Furnham

Publications and source records attributed to A Furnham.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMed1994

Cross-cultural differences in the evaluation of male and female body shapes.

Comparable groups of British and Ugandan students rated 24 drawings of male and female figures on 12 bipolar scales. The drawings represented figures ranging from extremely obese to extremely anorexic. Multivariate and univariate analyses showed that the major cultural differences occurred with the more extreme figures. Ugandans rated the more obese female and the more anorexic male figures as more attractive than the British subjects. There were surprisingly few sex of subject or sex x culture of subject interactions. The results are discussed in terms of the burgeoning literature on cross-cultural differences in the determinants of body image, stereotypic attractiveness, and eating disorders.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Explaining health and illness: lay perceptions on current and future health, the causes of illness, and the nature of recovery.

Nearly 350 British respondents completed four questionnaires derived from Stainton Rogers [1], on the perceptions on health and recovery from illness. They were also asked to provide a number of demographic details (sex, age, education, voting pattern) and their experience of alternative medicine. Each of the questionnaires was factor analysed to show the underlying structure. The demographic, psychographic and individual difference belief variables were then regressed on to each factor derived from each questionnaire. Religious and political beliefs, as well as attitudes to alternative medicine, were the most consistent and powerful predictors of the health-related beliefs. These results are discussed in terms of the emerging literature on health beliefs.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Cross-cultural beliefs about "depression".

This study set out to compare native Britons' and Asian-Britons' (from the Indian sub-continent) beliefs about the causes and cures of depression. In all 152 females took part, half of whom were middle-aged and half young. The results indicated that middle-aged Asian migrants significantly differed from the middle-aged British and young Asian samples in their beliefs about depression and anti-depressive behaviour. They also scored significantly higher than the middle-aged British women on a Western measure of psychiatric morbidity, yet they did not report depression in themselves or others. The young Asian sample, on the other hand, appear to have adopted a perception of depression that is similar to that of their British peers. It seems that the perception of the causes and symptoms of depression and appropriate anti-depressive behaviour is mediated by cultural values and beliefs that the individual has been exposed to in their formative years, which subsequently affects their tendency to recognise, report and seek help for depression. The results are discussed in terms of the literature on the 'new cross-cultural psychiatry'.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

The eating attitudes and behaviours of Asian and British schoolgirls: a pilot study.

This study set out to examine dietary, weight and eating attitudes of 12-18 year old British and Asian girls. Ninety-six subjects from a state school completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the Binge Eating Questionnaire (BEQ) and a questionnaire concerning the perceived level of integration into British society. The mean EAT-26 score was higher than any other study has found using a school population. No significant correlation was found between age and EAT-26 score, and there was no significant difference between the Asian and British mean EAT-26 scores. The EAT-26 scores were not significantly higher in girls from families of higher socioeconomic class compared to those from lower socioeconomic class. There was however some support for the prediction that resentment in the Asian girls was expressed in higher EAT-26 scores. No significant group difference was found between Asian and British girls with regard to vomiting behaviour. The results are discussed in terms of the literature on eating disorders.

Acculturation↗

PubMed1993

Re-adjustment of Japanese returnee children from an overseas sojourn.

A questionnaire survey which was devised from the MMPI which was administered to Japanese children aged between 6 and 18 who had returned from an overseas sojourn for the duration of no less than one year (n = 1941) and matched control groups from the same schools who had no overseas experiences (n = 1354). Returnee children showed more dissatisfaction with their lives in Japan, but there was no indication that returnee children had more adjustment difficulties than their counterparts. In fact, they were less worried about their academic achievement and interpersonal relationships. Positive effects of the transcultural relocation were discussed as well as the adjustment.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

A comparison of health beliefs and behaviours of clients of orthodox and complementary medicine.

This study sought to compare and contrast the beliefs and expectations of two groups--the one choosing to visit an orthodox medical general practitioner and the other a complementary medicine homeopath. Eighty patients from each group were compared and were found not to be significantly different in sex, level of education, marital status, religious or political affiliation. They completed a fairly lengthy questionnaire which examined health consciousness, perceived health risks, illness prevention, general health beliefs, treatment preference, medical history, mental health and health locus of control. Compared to patients of orthodox medicine, homeopathic patients claimed to (a) take less notice of popular health care recommendations; (b) believe in numerous 'healthy life-style' methods of preventing illness; (c) trust more in their chosen primary health professional (and to try other complementary medical practices); and (d) be dissatisfied with orthodox medicine and believe in potential self-control over health. Results were not dissimilar to previous studies (Furnham & Smith, 1988) but limitations of this particular study were considered.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Measuring locus of control: a critique of general, children's, health- and work-related locus of control questionnaires.

This paper attempts a critical review not so much of the concept of locus of control as the plethora of unidimensional or sphere-specific measures that have been developed in the past 25 years. After a brief history of the development of the concept of locus of control, various oft-repeated and some new criticisms are considered. One frequent response to problems associated with the original concept and scale has been to develop new psychometrically validated, sphere- or topic-specific measures. These are tabulated and reviewed under five headings: measures (either multidimensional or sphere-specific) of the general concept of locus of control; measures devised specifically for children and adolescents; measures that have concentrated on aspects of mental and physical health; work, career and economic locus of control measures; and finally, measures which have extended the locus of control concept into other areas. The advantages and disadvantages of this proliferation of measures is considered in some detail, especially the issue of incremental validity, and recommendations are made for future work in this area.

Employment↗

PubMed1993

Comparison of adaptation to the home culture of Japanese children and adolescents returned from overseas sojourn.

A questionnaire based on the MMPI was administered to Japanese children aged between 6 and 18 years who had returned from an overseas sojourn of more than one year's duration (N = 1941) and a matched control group who had no overseas experiences (N = 1354). Overall females had more difficulty with friends, and scored higher on both psychological and physical symptoms. The older children had more complaints about life in Japan, difficulty with friends and physical and psychological problems. The differences between the returnee and control group were less in the age range between 7 and 9, but the overseas experience seemed to have positive effects between the ages of 10 to 15. The longer the children stayed overseas, the more they had complaints about life in Japan and difficulty with friends, and less negative attitudes towards overseas life. Children who had multiple overseas experiences had more problems such as anxiety, depression and mental complaints. Children's developmental stages and the amount of exposure to the foreign culture are therefore important determinants of their readjustment. The expectations of parents and the home culture to the returnee children, gender, and emphasis on academic achievement, must also be taken into account.

Acculturation↗

PubMed1993

Gender, generational and social support correlates of mental health in Asian immigrants.

A sample of 100 Asian immigrants, mainly from India and Pakistan, were interviewed in their native language (Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi or English) concerning their psychological adjustment to life in Britain. It was predicted that female Indo-Pakistan immigrants would have higher levels of psychological symptomatology than male immigrants; and that second generation immigrants would have higher levels of psychological symptomatology than the first generation immigrants did not have higher levels of psychological symptoms than the first generation immigrants. Social support networks of the subjects were not correlated with mental health. However for the two generations, there was evidence linking social support to mental health. The extent of acculturisation, as measured by identificational assimilation, was not correlated with mental health. Results are discussed in terms of the burgeoning literature in this field.

Acculturation↗

PubMed1993

The psychological adjustment of the Chinese community in Britain. A study of two generations.

The psychological health and adjustment to life in Britain of a sample of first- and second-generation Chinese immigrants were measured. It was predicted that problems with the English language, inadequate social support, value differences, and unfulfilled expectations would induce more symptoms of psychological distress and depression in first-generation than in second-generation Chinese immigrants. Overall psychological health, and hence adjustment, was good. There was evidence for language problems and unfulfilled expectations, but not social support and value differences, being linked to mental health in the second generation. Evidence linking mental health to other personal variables was found in both generations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1993

Personality and the Barron-Welsh Art Scale.

For 62 students scores on the Baron-Welsh Art Scale, a measure of creativity, were correlated with scores on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. As predicted, psychoticism correlated positively with Art Scale scores, while extraversion and neuroticism did not.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Lay theories of anorexia nervosa.

One hundred sixty-eight subjects completed a 105-item questionnaire that explored their beliefs about the cause, correlates, and cures of anorexia nervosa. The questionnaire was derived from interviews with lay people that concerned their beliefs and theories about anorexia. The three parts of the questionnaire were individually factor analyzed, and an interpretable factor structure emerged for each. While age and body size did not correlate with these factors, sex, personal experience of eating disorders, and being acquainted with an anorexic were significant correlates of a number of factors. Factors associated with cause, correlates, and cure were correlated modestly and significantly. Both the introduction and the discussion consider the differences between "lay" and "scientific" theories of anorexia nervosa.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1992

State and trait differences in depressive self-perceptions.

A number of investigators have interpreted a tendency for depressed people to recall more negative than positive self-referent adjectives as evidence for a depressive self-schema made up of predominantly negative characterological information. We sought to confirm this account by eliciting the subjective self-perceptions of the depressed. Depressed patients and controls were required to rate whether or not a series of positive and negative adjectives applied to them during the previous week, at any time, and generally. The depressed distinguished clearly between these questions and, although describing themselves currently in largely negative terms, described their general state as equally composed of positive and negative elements.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Self-criticism in adulthood and recalled childhood experience.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Causal beliefs about depression in depressed patients, clinical psychologists and lay persons.

Non-depressed lay persons have been shown to have extensive and accurate knowledge about depression (Rippere, 1977, 1980 a, b, 1981 a) that is underpinned by a structure that resembles current academic theories of the disorder (Furnham & Kuyken, 1991). In this study a semi-structured interview schedule and a number of rating scales were used to determine and compare the nature and extent of depressed patients', clinical psychologists', and lay persons' beliefs about the causes of depression. We confirmed that depressed patients and non-depressed lay persons alike have relatively extensive beliefs about the causes of depression which are comparable to those held by clinical psychologists. However, depressed patients tend to endorse biological explanations of the causes of depression to a greater extent than clinical psychologists. In contrast, clinical psychologists assign a more important causal role to unconscious processes and childhood vulnerability factors than do either depressed patients or non-depressed lay controls.

Adjustment Disorders↗

PubMed1992

A comparison of academic and lay theories of schizophrenia.

This study investigated lay subjects' theories of schizophrenia. A questionnaire examining the five identified main academic theories of schizophrenia (medical, moral-behavioural, social, psychoanalytic, and conspiratorial) along various dimensions (aetiology, behaviour, treatment, function of the hospital, and the rights and duties of both patients and society) was constructed for use in the study. The results from 106 lay respondents showed that no single model was favoured exclusively but seemed to point to a synthesis of several academic theories. The lay subjects stressed the importance of patient environment in the aetiology of schizophrenia rather than a physiological malfunction, but tended to stress the personal rights of the schizophrenic. The differences between lay and the currently dominant psychiatric models are discussed in terms of the function these models serve for each group.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1992

Relationship between knowledge of and attitudes towards AIDS.

202 subjects completed a questionnaire concerning their knowledge of and attitudes towards AIDS. The knowledge questionnaire had three sections, general knowledge, knowledge of spread and symptoms. Intercorrelations of the sections of the attitudinal measure were factor analysed, and five interpretable factors identified. As in two previously reported studies the correlations among the three knowledge and five attitudinal factors were low and nonsignificant. Implications for health education and attitude change are considered.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed1991

Consequences of person-environment incongruence: absenteeism, frustration, and stress.

Two correlational studies using English nurses and working adults are reported that examined the relationship between the three measures of person-environment (P-E) fit as derived from Holland's (1973) theory and three dependent work-related variables. In the first study, the P-E fit measures of congruence, consistency, and differentiation were correlated with two measures of absenteeism, frustration, and various demographic variables. Contrary to predictions, two measures of absenteeism were positively correlated with congruence and consistency. In accordance with the hypothesis, however, frustration was highly negatively correlated with congruence and consistency. In the second study, consistency, but not congruence or differentiation, was significantly negatively correlated with stress, as predicted. These studies provide some support for Holland's theses, although not all hypotheses were supported, both for methodological and theoretical reasons. It is argued that P-E fit measures are useful predictors of occupational behavior in conjunction with other major determinants.

Absenteeism↗