Are modern health worries associated with medical conspiracy theories?

This study was concerned with whether Medical Conspiracy Theories (MCTs), along with other variables (demographics, ideology and health perceptions) are associated with Modern Health Worries (MHWs). MCTs were significantly associated with MHWs over and above all other variables. Older individuals, with more religious and right-wing beliefs had higher MHWs. In addition, those who used Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and individuals who perceived their mental health as worse than their peers were also more likely to display higher MHWs. Implications for helping health professions understand their patients' health-related beliefs and choices were discussed.

Aesthetic activities and aesthetic attitudes: influences of education, background and personality on interest and involvement in the arts.

There have been few studies of why some people are frequently involved in aesthetic activities such as going to the theatre, reading or playing musical instruments, whereas others are less involved. This study assesses the broad roles of education, personality and demographic factors such as social class, age and sex. More aesthetic activity was associated with music and art education, whereas science education had a substantial negative relationship with aesthetic activity, both directly and also indirectly via reduced art education. More aesthetic activity was particularly related to higher scores on the personality factor of openness, and also to lower scores on agreeableness and conscientiousness. Higher parental social class was also associated with more aesthetic activity, as also was lower age. Sex had no relationship to aesthetic activity, as neither did masculinity-femininity. Positive aesthetic attitudes were also related moderately to aesthetic activity, but were particularly strongly related to openness to experience, and somewhat less to extraversion. Class, age and sex had no direct relationship to aesthetic attitudes.

[Health and migration. Psychosocial determinants]. / Migration und Gesundheit. Psychosoziale Determinanten.

The article provides an overview of the contemporary literature on the social and psychological factors which are associated with migration. Derived from the operationalisation of "migration" and an examination of the methodological peculiarities of migration research, a (transactional) stress model of migration is proposed incorporating potentially stress-eliciting influences of migration including occupational pressures, social isolation and/or family-related problems and their impact on psychological and physical health. There are inconsistencies in the findings regarding psychological health, which can in part be explained through the phenomena of the "healthy migrant effect", duration of stay in the host culture or the culture-specificity. Moreover, a discussion is provided of the extent that disorders associated with differentially stressed migrants will be manifested in the health care system. Finally, concluding remarks are offered together with a short discussion of the implication of these findings for future research and social and health policy decision-making.

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations. Part I: Dimensional constancy of the five-factor model.

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures.

The long-term stability of sociometric status classification: a longitudinal study of included pupils who have moderate learning difficulties and their mainstream peers.

This study investigated the longitudinal stability of sociometric classification in two groups of children aged 8 to 10 years over a 2-year period. Two simple, but sensitive and valid forced-choice sociometric measures were completed by 41 children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) and 375 mainstream children. On both occasions and on both measures (one using a "work with" and one a "play with" sociometric criterion) MLD pupils were significantly less likely to be classified as popular and more likely to be classified as rejected. Over the 2-year period just over half of the children, whether MLD or mainstream, were classified in the same sociometric category. However, the stability coefficients for the rejected and popular sociometric status groups were found to be higher in the included sample than in the mainstream sample. The results of this study are compared with previous longitudinal studies in the area that have focused on mainstream pupils, and implications for the use of sociometric measures in evaluating the outcomes of inclusion are discussed.

A cross-cultural study of parental conflict and eating disorders in a non-clinical sample.

Previous British studies have found that EAT scores of second generation British Asian schoolgirls are higher than those of White schoolgirls (Furnham & Husain, 1999; McCourt & Waller, 1995; Mumford et al., 1991), and that these scores are positively associated with parental over-protection (Furnham & Hussain, 1999). This study looked at the relationship between parental conflict and parental overprotection and EAT scores in three cultures. The three groups, all of late adolescent females, were British Caucasians (N=116), immigrant British Asians from Pakistan (N= 118), and Pakistanis tested in Pakistan (N=114). A 22 item conflict questionnaire was constructed and administered to 355 participants, along with the PBI, EAT-26, and Body Shape Belief Scale (BSBS). It was predicted that the British Asians would have higher EAT, parental protection and conflict scores than the other two groups. It was also predicted that EAT scores would be highly correlated with conflict scores. All hypotheses were supported, and over-protection scores were noticeably highest in the British Asian group. They also had a significant amount of more conflict with parents than any of the other cultural groups. EAT scores were associated with conflict and over-protection. Results are discussed in terms of the literature in the field.

Moderating effect of ear preference on personality in the prediction of sales performance.

This study examined the relationship between ear preference, personality, and performance ratings on 203 telesales staff. Social desirability scores were a significant predictor of two relatively independent sets of supervisor ratings (actual performance and developmental potential) in interaction with ear preference. It was found that the social desirability scale was a significant positive predictor for staff preferring a right ear headset, but a negative predictor for staff preferring a left ear headset. These results were interpreted in terms of different strategies used to achieve successful sales.

Abnormal eating attitudes and behaviours and perceived parental control: a study of white British and British-Asian school girls.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found significantly higher scores on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) which measures eating disorders among second-generation British-Asian schoolgirls in comparison to their White counterparts. Further, high EAT-26 scores (an indication of unhealthy eating attitudes and behaviours) are positively associated with parental overprotection scores on the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). This study aimed to replicate and extend previous findings, comparing British-Asian schoolgirls to White schoolgirls and consider 'intra-Asian' differences on the same measures, including factor scores. METHODS: Participants completed three questionnaires: EAT-26, PBI and BSS (Body Satisfaction Scale). There were 168 participants: 46 White, 40 Indian, 44 Pakistani and 38 Bengali. RESULTS: Previous findings were supported; the Asian scores were significantly higher than the White scores on the EAT-26 and PBI, but not the BSS. The Bengali sample had significantly higher EAT-26 total and 'oral control' scores than the other groups. There were no intra-Asian differences for the overprotection scores. PBI scores were not associated with EAT-26 scores. The BSS score was the only significant predictor of EAT scores, when entered into a regression along with PBI scores and the body mass index. CONCLUSION: Results demonstrated sociocultural factors in the development of eating disorders. The results suggest that there are important psychological differences between second-generation migrants from different countries on the Indian subcontinent. In line with previous studies, significant differences were found between the four ethnic groups, parenting styles, but these did not relate to actual eating disorders.

Remembering stories as a function of the medium of presentation.

Participants (50 women, 35 men) either watched, listened to, or read a piece of fiction for television. An immediate cued recall test showed, as predicted, that the group who read the piece remembered more than either of the other two groups. This confirms previous findings on adults that recall of material presented in the print medium is superior to that from audio-only and audio-visual presentation.

Perceived parental behaviour, self-esteem and happiness.

BACKGROUND: This study set out to determine to what extent recalled parental rearing styles (authoritarian, authoritativeness, permissiveness), personality (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, lie), and self-esteem predicted self-rated happiness in a normal, nonclinical, population of young people in their late teens and early 20s. METHODS: Each participant completed a few questionnaires: the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (revised), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Parental Authority Questionnaire and the Oxford Happiness Inventory. It was predicted that sex, extraversion, neuroticism, self-esteem and both maternal and paternal authoritativeness would be significant predictors of happiness. RESULTS: Regressional and path analysis showed self-esteem to be the most dominant and powerful predictor of happiness. The effect of sex on happiness was moderated by neuroticism, which related to self-esteem, which directly influenced happiness. Stability, extraversion and maternal authoritativeness were significant predictors of self-esteem accounting for one-third of the variance. CONCLUSION: The results are considered in terms of the distinct literature on the relation between personality and happiness and on the relation between parental styles and self-esteem. Self-esteem was both a direct and a moderator variable for young people's self-reported happiness. Extraversion had both direct and indirect predictive power of happiness, whereas neuroticism predicted happiness mediating through self-esteem. Maternal authoritativeness was the only direct predictor of happiness when paternal and maternal rearing styles were examined together, suggesting that a reasonable discipline exercised by mothers towards their children was particularly beneficial in enhancing the offsprings' self-esteem.

Does experience of the 'occult' predict use of complementary medicine? Experience of, and beliefs about, both complementary medicine and ways of telling the future.

This study looked at the relationship between ratings of the perceived effectiveness of 24 methods for telling the future, 39 complementary therapies (CM) and 12 specific attitude statements about science and medicine. A total of 159 participants took part. The results showed that the participants were deeply sceptical of the effectiveness of the methods for telling the future which factored into meaningful and interpretable factors. Participants were much more positive about particular, but not all, specialties of complementary medicine (CM). These also factored into a meaningful factor structure. Finally, the 12 attitude to science/medicine statements revealed four factors: scepticism of medicine; the importance of psychological factors; patient protection; and the importance of scientific evaluation. Regressional analysis showed that belief in the total effectiveness of different ways of predicting the future was best predicted by beliefs in the effectiveness of the CM therapies. Although interest in the occult was associated with interest in CM, participants were able to distinguish between the two, and displayed scepticism about the effectiveness of methods of predicting the future and some CM therapies.

The perceived efficacy of homeopathy and orthodox medicine: a vignette-based study.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether people thought neurotics were more likely to 'get better' when using CAM rather than orthodox medicine. DESIGN: A total of 165 participants completed a four part questionnaire, in which they were required to read eight vignettes (each about 70 words long) describing a British male patient who either visits a Homeopath or General Practitioner with a specific and different medical problem. In the vignette the patient gets better after treatment or remains unwell and they are described as either emotionally balanced (stable) or slightly neurotic in character (2 x 2 x 2 design). Participants were required to rate each vignette on criteria such as, did they think the treatment was effective, and did they think the person would remain feeling better. RESULTS: Homeopathy was perceived as more effective for treating patients with unstable psychological characteristics and orthodox medicine was seen as more effective for treating patients with stable psychological characteristics. Homeopathy was perceived as more effective by participants who themselves used complementary medicine. Participants who had visited a complementary therapist felt more strongly that psychological factors were important in illness than participants who had never consulted a complementary practitioner. Non-complementary medicine users perceived orthodox medicine to be more effective than complementary users.

A cross-cultural study of mental health beliefs and attitudes towards seeking professional help.

BACKGROUND: This study sets out to examine the relationship between culture beliefs about the causes of mental distress and attitudes associated with seeking professional help for psychological problems. It was hypothesised that there is a meaningful and statistical relationship between these variables and that there will be a difference in this relationship between Asians and Westerners. Participants were 287 adults belonging to three groups (British Asian, western European and Pakistanis). METHOD: Participants completed two questionnaires: the Orientations to Seeking Professional Help (Fischer and Turner 1970) and the Mental Distress Explanatory Model Questionnaire (Eisenbruch 1990) and a demographic data sheet. RESULTS: Analysis indicated that positive attitudes toward seeking professional help for psychological distress were similar for British Asians, Westerners and Pakistanis. There were significant differences between the three groups in the causal attributions of mental distress. Although culture, as a variable, was not a significant predictor of a positive attitude to seeking professional help, causal beliefs of mental distress were significant predictors of attitudes to seeking help for the British Asian and the Pakistani groups. Beliefs were not significant predictors for attitudes to seeking help for the Western group. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that culturally determined causal beliefs of mental distress contribute to attitudes towards seeking professional help for psychological problems for Asians. Implications for both research and the provision of more appropriate health services for the British Asian minority group in the United Kingdom are discussed.

Cross-cultural explanations of body image disturbance in Western cultural samples.

OBJECTIVE: We replicated and extended the findings of S. M. Stormer and J. K. Thompson (1996), by comparing the relationships among body image disturbance (BID) and teasing history, age of pubertal onset, societal pressures to be thin, and appearance comparison, across three Western cultures. METHODS: College females from the United States, Italy, and England completed several BID measures, as well as measures of the four predictors. Body mass levels and self-esteem, two known correlates of BID, were also examined. Data were analyzed using first standard, then hierarchical regression procedures. RESULTS: This investigation essentially found no cultural differences in the relationships among BID and its correlates for six of the seven criteria (BID) measures. Only one of the measures, the Figure Rating Scale (FRS), distinguished across groups. DISCUSSION: A lack of true cultural differences, or general similarities among university students, might explain these results. Nevertheless, these findings support the use of a Western cross-cultural research model.

How the public classify complementary medicine: a factor analytic study.

OBJECTIVES: To see how lay people group or classify various CAM therapies. DESIGN: Nearly 600 adults rated 39 relatively familiar branches of complementary medicine on four dimensions: whether they had heard of it, whether they think they know how it works; whether they had tried it; and a rating of efficacy on a 10-point scale. RESULTS: As predicted those most heard of were acupuncture, aromatherapy, herbal medicine, hypnosis, massage and yoga while those with lowest ratings were autogenic training, ayurveda, biochemic tissue salts, chelation cell therapy and ozone therapy. A number of multivariate statistical techniques were used to attempt to investigate the perceived dimensional structure of the different therapies. Slightly different structures emerged depending on the question asked and the analysis computed. CONCLUSION: The 'bottom-up' empirically derived taxonomization of therapies was interpretable and showed 10 different factors. The issue of classifying or taxonomizing complementary medicines is discussed.

The structure of the Eysenck Personality Profiler.

The dominant issue in personality research over the last decade has been concerned with the fundamental structure of personality and the best measures of that structure. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate possible three- and five-factor solutions to the Eysenck Personality Profiler (EPP; Eysenck, Barrett, Wilson, & Jackson, 1992) which consists of 21 primary scales categorized under three super-factors. Little evidence was found to support Costa and McCrae's (1995) unequivocal comment that a five-factor solution fitted the data well. Confirmatory factor analysis was also used, by means of structural equation modelling, to estimate the goodness of fit of three- and five-factor models and little evidence was found to favour one solution over the other. A shorter version of the EPP, which consists of just nine scales, seemed to favour a three-factor solution. Various criticisms of the EPP are also made: some scales have relatively low alpha, there seem to be too many neuroticism scales and the three category response scales seem less than ideal.

Beliefs about overcoming psychological problems among British and Japanese students.

This study was part of a series investigating lay attributions for the cure of psychological problems. Three groups of students--Japanese students in Japan, Japanese students studying in England, and British students--completed a questionnaire and rated the perceived efficacy of 24 different strategies for overcoming each of 5 psychological problems: agoraphobia, depression, smoking cessation, lack of confidence, and obesity. Factor analysis of the curative strategies revealed 5 interpretable factors, the first 3 of which were Professional Help, Inner Control, and Understanding. There were numerous cultural differences between the British group and both Japanese groups in their written ratings of strategies, particularly professional help, for each psychological problem.

The perceived efficacy of various "future-ologies" and complementary medicine.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between beliefs in ways of telling the future (astrology, graphology, palmistry etc) and beliefs in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). DESIGN: Participants completed a short questionnaire that requested that they rate the efficacy of 8 CAM therapies along with 12 other ways of predicting the future ranging from the well known and established (astrology) to the less well known (tasseography, oneiromancy). Short descriptions of each were provided. They also answered four attitude statements on science as applied to medicine. SUBJECTS: Two hundred three (130 female, 73 male) adult Britains obtained from a university subject panel served as unpaid volunteer subjects. RESULTS: CAM therapies were judged as modestly effective and most of the other "-ologies" ineffective. Further analysis confirmed two clear factors with the different methods loading on two different factors. Regressions showed females who were less concerned with scientific evaluations but more concerned with treatment believed more in the efficacy of the "future-ologies." Also females, who had heard of fewer "future-ologies" but more CAM practices were more likely to believe in the efficacy of CAM therapies. CONCLUSION: Belief in CAM is unrelated to belief in "future-ologies." Interest in the scientific evaluations of treatment is the best predictor of beliefs about efficacy.

Gender stereotyping in television advertisements: a study of French and Danish television.

Two similar, but not identical, content analyses of the portrayals of men and women in French and Danish television advertisements are reported. By partially replicating and extending past investigations conducted in America, Australia, Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, and New Zealand, it was predicted that there would be more gender stereotyping in French television advertisements and less gender stereotyping in Danish television advertisements. In the first study, 165 French television advertisements were analyzed by following established coding categories (A. Furnham & E. Skae, 1997; L. Z. McArthur & B. G. Resko, 1975). Contrary to prediction, the results showed that traditional gender role portrayal on French television was no different from that found in other countries. Separate statistical analyses were carried out for visually versus aurally classified central figures, yet this yielded relatively few significant differences. In the second study, a sample of 151 Danish advertisements was analyzed; results showed that Danish television was generally less gender stereotypic than French television in its portrayal of women. Exactly half (5) of the coding categories showed significant differences. Finally, an international statistical comparison between these two studies and similar research in Australia, Britain, and Italy was carried out. The methodological implications of these results are discussed as well as the theoretical issues arising from other studies of this sort.

Predicting occupational personality test scores.

The relationship between students' actual test scores and their self-estimated scores on the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI; R. Hogan & J. Hogan, 1992), an omnibus personality questionnaire, was examined. Despite being given descriptive statistics and explanations of each of the dimensions measured, the students tended to overestimate their scores; yet all correlations between actual and estimated scores were positive and significant. Correlations between self-estimates and actual test scores were highest for sociability, ambition, and adjustment (r = .62 to r = .67). The results are discussed in terms of employers' use and abuse of personality assessment for job recruitment.