Questions of culture,age and gender in the epidemiology of suicide

Cultural values were examined as predictors of suicide incidence rates compiled for men and women in six age groups for 33 nations for the years 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1985. Hofstede's cultural values of Power-Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Masculinity (i.e., social indifference) were negative correlates of reported suicide, and Individualism was a strong positive correlate. The proportion of variance in suicide reports generally related to these four cultural values was R2 = 0.25. Suicide by women and by middle-aged people was most related to cultural values, even though international variance in suicide is greater for men and for the elderly. Suicide incidence for girls and young women showed unique negative correlations with Individualism. For all age groups, Individualism predicted a greater preponderance of male suicides, and Power-Distance predicted more similar male and female suicide rates. Social alienation and Gilligan's feminist theory of moral judgment were hypothesized to explain some gender differences.     

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Relationship between Egalitarian Gender Role Attitudes and Life Satisfaction

In the present study, we investigated the relationship between egalitarian gender role endorsement, gender role satisfaction, and satisfaction with life among women in two cultural contexts, Kurdistan in Iraq and Norway, which differ widely in their acceptance of gender inequality according to the World Values Survey and the UN Gender Inequality Index. We predicted the relationship between egalitarian gender role endorsement (measured by the ENRICH- Equalitarian Roles Scale) and gender role satisfaction would vary across these two cultural contexts, but that gender role satisfaction would predict satisfaction with life in both cultures. Responses from 899 female university students (252 Kurdish and 246 Norwegian student teachers; 211 Kurdish and 190 Norwegian student nurses) confirmed our hypotheses. Egalitarian gender attitudes more strongly predicted gender role satisfaction in Norway than in Kurdistan (student teachers: r = .17 vs .07; nursing students: r = .37 vs. .18), but gender role satisfaction predicted life satisfaction in both cultures (r = .40 and .47; r = .49 and .47, respectively). Analyses confirmed that the mediating role of gender satisfaction was moderated by country. Our results shed light on the important role of gender satisfaction in explaining cultural differences in the relationship between egalitarian gender role attitudes and life satisfaction.     

Norwegian short-form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale

A tutorial example demonstrates the effects of social desirability bias on fictional multiculturalism and mental health data and how bias can be moderated by parital correlations using social desirabiliry measures of different degrees of validity. The 33-item Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale was translated from English to Norwegian and presented to 117 university students and 124 non-students. Using psychometric criteria, and a "seed-crystal" method accretion, a 10-item Norwegian short-form of the Marlowe-Crowne scale was produced.     

Parent's report of stress and articulation oscillation as factors in a preschooler's dysfluencies

Recently, one focus of research on dysfluency and stuttering seems to be on the preschooler. One goal of such research should be to determine what factors in the child's language system and what factors in the social environment may put the child at risk for developing dysfluencies and stuttering. The following is a parent's account of the occurrence of dysfluencies in a preschooler. Emphasis is on a language phenomenon that might be labeled “articulation oscillation” and on apparent social environmental stress.     

Semantics of Ownership: A Free-Recall Study of Property

Adult Canadians (N = 120) evaluated criteria of ownership by two tasks. The first was listing exemplars of things owned and things not owned and then rating applicability of criteria to exemplars. The second was judging the strength of criteria as general arguments for ownership. Cluster analysis suggested that free-recall exemplars of property were selected by four principal types of criteria: (a) control criteria (POSSESSION, ASSERTION, TERRITORIALITY) referring to the regulation of social access to the property, (b) attachment criteria (FAMILIARITY, KNOWLEDGE, AESTHETICS, UTILITY) expressing the psychological proximity of the owner to the property, (c) consumer criteria (PURCHASE, HISTORY, DESIRE) reflecting important purchases, and (d) special-acquisitions criteria (GIFT, CRAFTING). By the judgement task, only means-of-acquisition criteria (PURCHASE, CRAFTING, GIFT) were valued as strong arguments for ownership.

     

Psychometric critique of acculturation psychology: the case of Iranian migrants in Norway

The presumptions, terminology, psychometrics, statistical analyses, and ethics of the fourfold acculturation paradigm are criticized in detail. Illustrative data came from Iranian refugees in Norway (N = 80) answering: 1) the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), 2) Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSRDS), 3) ipsative fourfold scales of Integration, Assimilation, Separation, and Marginalization, 4) orthogonal scales of attitudes towards Norwegian and Iranian cultures, measured independently and using balanced reverse-keying, and 5) ipsative forced-choice preferences for cultural practices of Norway, Iran, both, or from other societies as well. Iranians in Norway favored global multiculturalism and, as a group. did not show distress. The SWLS and ZSRDS were correlated, but the measures of acculturation failed to replicate one another. As unconstrained ipsative measures, the fourfold scales showed acquiescence response bias contamination and doubtful operationalization of scale constructs. Recommendations are discussed for improving acculturation research.