Psychological symptom levels in Indian immigrants to England–a comparison with native English

1981 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Cochrane ◽  
Mary Stopes-Roe

SynopsisA national community survey of psychological symptom levels among samples of Indian immigrants and natives is reported. Using a quasi-random sampling procedure, a sample of 200 Indian-born residents of large towns in England was selected to match the age and sex structure of the total Indian immigrant population. An indigenous population, selected in the same way, was matched with the immigrants for comparison purposes. Psychological disturbance was measured with the Langner 22-Item Scale which has previously been specifically validated for use in this context. Other indices were constructed to test specific hypotheses.The pattern revealed by mental hospital admission statistics was strongly supported by survey. Indian immigrants as a group experience far less psychological disorder than natives, despite the experiences of migration and of being an immigrant. On other measures Indians also manifested an adjustment superior to that of natives.Among the Indian sample stable psychological adjustment was related to being young at migration, being acculturated to life in England and being socially integrated. A subgroup of higher social status, Indian females who had been upwardly socially mobile, emerged as the only group with a higher than average symptom level. However, even this group was at least as well adjusted as its English counterpart.

2002 ◽  
Vol 181 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael King ◽  
Adrian Coxell ◽  
Gillian Mezey

BackgroundThere are no epidemiological data in Europe on associations between sexual molestation in males and psychological disturbance.AimsTo investigate whether sexual molestation in males is a significant predictor of psychological disturbance.MethodWe recruited men attending general practice and genitourinary medicine services. Participants took part in a computerised interview about sexual molestation as children or adults. We ranked reported sexual experiences into three categories of decreasing severity. Each category was treated as an independent predictor in a multivariate analysis predicting different types of psychological disturbance.ResultsMen who reported child sexual abuse were more likely to report any type of psychological disturbance. Men who reported sexual molestation in adulthood were 1.7 (1.0–2.8) times more likely to have experienced a psychological disorder, but self-harm was the single most likely problem to occur (odds ratio⩵2.6, range⩵l.3–5.2). Men reporting ‘consenting’ sexual experiences when aged under 16 years also were more likely to report acts of self-harm (odds ratio⩵l.7, range⩵0–2.8).ConclusionsSexual abuse as a child or adult is associated with later psychological problems. All forms of sexual molestation were predictive of deliberate self-harming behaviour in men.


1992 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-182
Author(s):  
L. D. Blumhardt ◽  
D. Barnes ◽  
S. J. Howell ◽  
E. Ghadiali

We have carried out a prospective psychological and clinical study of neurological out-patients with episodes of disturbed consciousness that were mostly unexplained after clinical assessments and prolonged follow up. When compared with matched healthy subjects, both the undiagnosed patients and a control group with chronic epilepsy, had evidence of abnormal personality and psychological disturbance. However, in the undiagnosed patients there were significant differences between two subgroups defined by the results of clinical follow up. Patients whose symptoms resolved spontaneously were psychologically indistinguishable from healthy control subjects, whereas patients whose unexplained symptoms continued, with or without empirical treatment trials, had highly abnormal personality profiles. Although the basic psychological tests we used cannot reliably separate individual patients with epilepsy from those with non-epilepsy, they do have some predictive value with respect to the prognosis of unexplained symptoms. Further detailed prospective studies may help to establish the relationship between psychological disorder and unexplained symptoms and perhaps reduce the need for repeated, expensive investigations.


1975 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 631-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregg S. Wilkinson

Isolation has been thought by many to exert an influence in the development of psychological disorders. However, empirical investigation has provided mixed results. This report presents data on the relationship between interpersonal isolation immediately prior to contact with a hospital and psychological disturbance as reported by psychiatric diagnosis. Significant association was found between presence of isolation, psychosis, and high disturbance. This indicates that isolation in an interpersonal sense may be detrimental to psychological well being and is a topic worthy of further investigation.


1997 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles B. Powers ◽  
Patricia A. Wisocki

This study examines the effects on elderly worriers, of a focus group discussion about the topic of worry. All subjects ( N = 21) were self-designated worriers, and at least seventy years of age. Pretest and Posttest measures included questionnaires on worry, life satisfaction, and psychological symptom domains unrelated to the focus group topic. The percentage of the day spent worrying variable, which was the criterion variable for admittance into the groups, showed a significant reduction from pre to post. The focus group participants also evaluated the focus group experience as positive and beneficial. The value of focus groups for therapeutic effectiveness and data collection with the elderly are discussed.


Author(s):  
Madhavi Mallapragada

This chapter examines the idealized construction of the Indian immigrant home and household in online grocery stores, shopping sites, and banking sites. Through close readings of these sites, it reveals how the textual, cultural, and institutional politics of a diverse set of Indian and Indian immigrant players has shaped the production of an idealized version of the immigrant home as a household organized around elite imaginations of mobility, the reproduction of the filial thorough the financial, and the agency and labor of male technology professionals. It situates the idealization of the immigrant home in the context of the ideologies of e-commerce and online financial transactions that first emerged in the late 1990s, and continue to be mobilized around the domestic and transnational needs and desires of Indian immigrants in the United States.


1974 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Andrews ◽  
Jeffrey Cutler

The measurement of change in attitude has been a difficult and neglected aspect of treatment. Erickson constructed a scale to measure communication attitudes that distinguish stutterers from nonstutterers. The validity and reliability of the Erickson scale over repeated measures was assessed by administering it to a control group of 25 nonstutterers on two occasions and to a group of 25 stutterers on three occasions during a therapy program: before treatment, after the instatement of fluency, and after transfer to everyday conversation. An analysis of the items led to the deletion of those not suitable for repeated administration. The resultant 24-item scale was shown to be a more valid and reliable measure of change in the communication attitudes of stutterers. The rate of change was compared with the changes in the level of stuttering. After stuttering stopped, the stutterers' scores did not equal those of the nonstutterers until they experienced speaking outside therapy. A follow-up study confirmed these results. After the removal of symptoms by behavior therapy, attitude change was only partial, and it was not until the patients completed a program of supervised experience that their attitudes changed to normal.


1979 ◽  
Vol 134 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Cochrane

SummaryData are presented from four studies which compare rates of psychological disturbance for three groups of immigrants to Britain and natives respectively. Children of West Indian and Asian parents are compared to native British children on the Rutter Teachers' Questionnaire and on rates of admission to psychiatric hospitals. Asian children have lower rates of behavioural deviance and mental hospital admissions than do British children. Children of West Indian immigrants show no more behavioural deviance in schools than do British children, but have considerably higher rates of admission to mental hospitals. The pattern for adults is remarkably similar to that shown by children, even though different definitions of psychological disturbance are used. The findings are discussed in the context of previous studies of immigrants to Britain and contemporary theories of immigrant adjustment.


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