A phenomenological examination of dating attitudes in ultra-orthodox Jewish emerging adult women

The current study investigated the dating attitudes of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women using a qualitative analysis. Interviews were conducted with eight Ultra-Orthodox Jewish young women. Themes reflected pressures associated with the dating process and the importance of dating for marriage. Additionally, respondents expressed satisfaction with the dating system due to its single-minded focus on finding a marriage partner and due to perceptions of alternative more Western systems.     

Religion and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) among young Muslim women in Saudi Arabia

Fifteen young women suffering from OCD in Saudi Arabia were interviewed about their experience of the illness and the roles played by religion. Religion was not perceived as a cause of the illness, but the illness can show itself in religious symptoms – notably with respect to prayer, and in a phase in which the young women were very strict and literal-minded with themselves and their families, with respect to religious observance. Religious symptoms were reported as more upsetting than other symptoms – being seen as damaging to the sufferer's piety. Other facets of the importance of religion in the experience of OCD were shown in help-seeking, in choosing to go first to religious healers for treatment, and only when these were unsuccessful were mental health professionals consulted. At this point, it was very important that the professional should be seen as trustworthy, and the criterion of trustworthiness was religiosity, specifically the use of pious, Qura’anic quotations, and a covered face (for a woman)/long beard (for a man). The accounts of the roles of religion in the experiences of the young women interviewed suggest that religion is an arena – but not the sole arena – for the expression of OCD symptoms. Religion plays an important role in determining the acceptability of treatments and treatment providers.     

Peer Aggression by Secondary School Learners in a South African School Setting: Effects of Race,Ethnicity, and Gender

This study reports the experience of aggression by secondary school learners attending a South African school. There were 14 participants ranging in age from 16 to 19 years (Gender: 6 young women and 8 young men; Ethnicity: 7 Black; 3 Coloured; 2 Indian and 2 White). Data were collected using open ended interviews and analysed using Tesch's (1990) thematic panning method. The findings suggest these learners have little understanding or appreciation of diversity in their multicultural schools. Consequently, they experience negative interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. The accompanying aggression they experience and display has racial and gender overtones that are shaped by the violence in their communities.     

Relationship complexities among women with obstetric fistula in Zimbabwe: an exploratory study

This study sought to determine how obstetric fistula affects women's intimate partner relationships or other social ties. A purposive sampling of eleven women (age range 17 to 31) with obstetric fistula admitted to two hospitals in Zimbabwe was done. In-depth interviews using unstructured interview guides were used to collect data on how the women`s condition impacted the way they related to other people and vice versa. Data were grouped into themes and analysed using content analysis and languishing and flourishing experiences were reported by the participants. Most of the study participants indicated that the condition strained their relationship with their husbands since they could not fulfil their conjugal rights. Participants also reported stigma from their close associates in the community, including extended family. Other participants reported to experience spiritual growth and strength from living with obstetric fistula. Support networks are important for women with obstetric fistula in a in a low resourced country like Zimbabwe.     

Prevalence of suicidal ideation and associated factors among postpartum HIV-positive women in health facilities,South Africa

The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence of suicidal ideation and its associated factors in postpartum HIV-positive women in South Africa . A cross-sectional survey was carried out on 580 HIV positive postnatal women (M = 28 .5 years; SD = 5 .8) in 48 health facilities in Nkangala district, Mpumalanga, South Africa . Results indicate that 41 .2% of women reported suicidal ideation in the postnatal period . In multivariate analysis, receiving money from the family, having been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) (other than HIV) in the past year, and lack of social support were found to be associated with suicidal ideation . In conclusion, suicidal ideation is common among HIV positive postpartum women, which calls for inclusion of suicidality risk assessment and management protocols in interventions targeting postpartum women living with HIV .     

Psychological Well-Being and Health Related Quality of Life among a Group of Low-Income Women Living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa

This study documented the relationships among biomedical factors, psychosocial factors, health related quality of life (HRQOL) and suicidality in respect of HIV positive women in KwaZulu-Natal. One hundred and thirty three (133) women over the age of 18 years (mean age 32.96 yrs; SD = 7.28) participated in the study. Participants completed a Suicidality Measure (SM: Sheebhan, Janavs, Amorim, Janavs, Weiller, Hergueta, Baker & Dunbar, 1998), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS: Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet & Farley, 1988) and the Health Related Quality of Life Survey—SF-36 (Ware, Kosinski & Dewey, 2002). Information on social/contextual variables including income, marital status, employment status, number of children was obtained. Participants completed two biomedical measures, CD4 count and time since diagnosis information. The findings revealed a compromised level of HRQOL in the participants. After controlling for biomedical factors, psychosocial measures did not explain differences in quality of life. Perceived social support was inversely related to suicidality. Newly diagnosed patients were less likely to think of suicide as an option.     

A little bit transparent with one another: Constructing vulnerability in the evangelical discourse of women preachers

Using four categories of Brown’s shame resilience theory (SRT), this paper analyses two similar online videos by prominent American evangelical female preachers: Joyce Meyer and Beth Moore. As each unpacks her survivor’s story of childhood sexual abuse, SRT (and its components of vulnerability, critical awareness, reaching out and speaking shame) can provide a matrix for interpreting the narrative in which each preacher frames her self-disclosure.     

Ambivalent subjects: Psychoanalysis,women’s sexuality in India and the writings of Sudhir Kakar

Indian women’s sexuality shares an intimate relationship with the regulatory forces of Hindu religious law. This paper explores the writings of psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar and the narratives of women interviewees, along with clinical experiences with women, to paint a picture of women’s sexuality’s interlocked with cultural misogyny. Noting the creative adaptations that women make to enjoy sex in this polis, the paper also asks questions about how the insights of psychoanalytic feminism may serve as a ‘third’ in this interlocking.     

Identity matters,culture wars: An account of Al-Huda (re)defining identity and reconfiguring culture in Pakistan

Middle-class and upper-class urban Pakistani women affiliated with Al-Huda, an Islamic school for women created in Islamabad in the early 1990s, are actively engaged in cultural construction as they first alter their ideology and behaviour, and then encourage others to alter theirs in order to live their lives as Muslims within a particular religious framework. While the presence of a variety of ideological systems in Pakistani society prevents Al-Huda's religious discourse from creating a monolithic culture infused by particular values and behaviours, it is nevertheless attempting to accomplish just that as it builds upon particular cultural codes that already exist in the country; for instance, those that intricately tie being a Pakistani with being a Muslim. Al-Huda takes this connection a step forward by specifying what being a Muslim entails based on their understanding of Muslim piety, hence promoting and constructing a particular kind of culture as authentic and desirable.     

Body appreciation in adult women: Relationships with age and body satisfaction

The major aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of age on positive body image (operationalized as body appreciation) across the female lifespan. A secondary aim was to examine the effect of age on the relationship between positive body image and body satisfaction. Participants were 158 women aged between 18 and 75 years who completed questionnaire measures of body appreciation and body dissatisfaction–satisfaction. A significant positive linear relationship was found between age and body appreciation; that is, older women had higher levels of body appreciation than their younger counterparts. Although body appreciation was positively correlated with body dissatisfaction–satisfaction across all age groups, the association was weaker for older women. The results contribute to a richer picture of women's body image across the lifespan, as well as confirming positive body image as something beyond the mere absence of body dissatisfaction.