Paper+2+Dysfunction+&+Culture

In a study by **Cochrane (1977) ** it was found that there are high rates of schizophrenia in African-Caribbeans in the UK compared to the white population. In the study, people aged 18 to 64 years residing in two health districts in London were screened for psychotic symptoms. The results were that the incidence rate for broad schizophrenia was significantly higher for African-Caribbeans than for Whites. Asians showed a high rate among people age 30 and over, particularly women. Poor results during follow- up after one year of class therapy for African-Caribbeans was significantly more common than for the other two groups. The proportion of African-Caribbeans with a poor outcome was two and a half times greater than that of Whites. Cochrane argued that this could be because African-Caribbeans were under extra stress and pressures associated with moving to a different culture. On a range of seven socio-demographic variables, African-Caribbeans differed from the other two groups only on unemployment which shows that they were having difficulty integrating into a new society and culture. Alternatively, it could be also due to the amount of racism or prejudice experienced by such minorities groups resulting in a higher incident of mental illness in these sub-cultures. Good so far. But //how// was this done? How were they screened? This part of the question could do with more __description__. You could include some of these 'cultural considerations' in part b. (b) **__Explain how cultural considerations may affect the findings of studies related to the psychology of dysfunctional behaviour. __** //[12 marks] //  Cultural considerations affect many studies for example, a study by Rack (1982) found that depression is rarely reported in Asian cultures and mental illness is rarely diagnosed in China. In terms of cultural considerations, theses Asian societies may be less accepting of these particular dysfunctional behaviours. Therefore, physicians are less willing to diagnose them and patients are also less willing to accept diagnosis due to embarrassment or shame to keep a good reputation in a society where mental illnesses are not accepted.
 * a) __Describe__ __one empirical study related to the psychology of dysfunctional behaviour.__ //[8 marks]// **

Furthermore, they may have different classificatory systems that contrast with western classificatory systems as Rack’s findings contrasts greatly with American figures for depression and mental illness. This reinforces the fact that different attitudes in society may influence their reporting and diagnosing of dysfunctional behaviour. Furthermore, it may also be suggested that societies with higher rates of mental illness are more likely to induce the symptoms.  In the previously mentioned study by Cochrane (1977) it can be argued that there might also be an ethnocentric bias in diagnosis as the social norms in Western countries are likely to be different from other cultures and thus ethnic minorities who do not belong to that culture are more likely to be over-represented. This is reinforced as the high rate of schizophrenia in African-Caribbeans is only found in UK not in other countries. This reflects a cultural bias in diagnosis amongst British psychiatrists. Lee (1969) found that much Zulu woman report screaming to themselves for weeks as a response to unhappiness. Though this behaviour would be statistically infrequent and abnormal in most societies, it is entirely appropriate for Zulu culture. This is why there can be no universal statistical measures of behaviour as behavioural standards are set within specific cultures. Therefore, there is no way to differentiate between what is normal and abnormal as it depends on culture thus statistical data and infrequencies regarding abnormal behaviours cannot be compared between the cultures.