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.

Overcoming the obstacles--the outsider's view.

The cost to patients, their relatives, the medical establishment and the economies of individual countries is such that compliance with, or adherence to, prescribed therapy is a major issue. There are relatively simple and systematic measures by which medical specialists can increase patient compliance and so save costs, time and lives. From a psychological perspective, the earlier these measures are instigated, for example before patients are discharged from hospital after an acute coronary syndrome, the greater is the likelihood of patient adherence to treatment.

Self-criticism in adulthood and recalled childhood experience.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.

Attributional versus preattributional variables in self-esteem and depression: a comparison and test of learned helplessness theory.

Predictions made according to the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory concerning the cognitive determinants of low self-esteem and depression were tested in two samples of undergraduates; real and hypothetical life events were used. As predicted, internal attributions for hypothetical success and failure were correlated with self-esteem, but there was an unexpected correlation with global attributions for negative outcomes. Two "preattributional" variables, consensus and consistency judgments, were also related to self-esteem and depression. In contrast to learned helplessness theory, a path analysis indicated that these variables were not attributionally mediated. Consensus judgment was as strong a predictor of depression as the number of recent distressing life events that subjects had experienced. Other evidence that links depression to perceived low consensus is described, and a possible etiological role for this variable is outlined.

Explaining health and illness: lay perceptions on current and future health, the causes of illness, and the nature of recovery.

Nearly 350 British respondents completed four questionnaires derived from Stainton Rogers [1], on the perceptions on health and recovery from illness. They were also asked to provide a number of demographic details (sex, age, education, voting pattern) and their experience of alternative medicine. Each of the questionnaires was factor analysed to show the underlying structure. The demographic, psychographic and individual difference belief variables were then regressed on to each factor derived from each questionnaire. Religious and political beliefs, as well as attitudes to alternative medicine, were the most consistent and powerful predictors of the health-related beliefs. These results are discussed in terms of the emerging literature on health beliefs.

Attitudes to the medical specialities: comparing pre-clinical students' perceptions of nine specialities.

This study set out to compare pre-clinical (2nd year) and clinical (5th year) medical students' attitudes to nine specialities. Previous research using the questionnaire employed in this study revealed a large number of significant differences, particularly with regard to pre-clinical students' beliefs about and attitudes towards psychiatry, general practice and surgery. Both multivariate (factor analysis) and univariate (analysis of variance) analyses showed significance main effects for both group (2nd vs 5th years) and speciality but perhaps more importantly significant interactions. Both predispositional and socialization factors are used to account for the difference in students' attitudes and beliefs over time. The advantage of longitudinal over cross-sectional designs is also discussed.

The A type behaviour pattern, mental health and health locus of control beliefs.

Despite the fact that a considerable amount of research has considered the relationship between A type behaviours and specific aspects of physical health few studies have looked at the relationship between A type behaviours, mental health and health beliefs. This study set out to determine the relationship between type A behaviours, psychological disturbance and various health locus of control beliefs in a heterogeneous population. It was hypothesized that although A type individuals would have higher disturbance scores, they would have higher internal locus of control beliefs across all subscale scores. The results showed that A type individuals had significantly higher mental distress scores than B types, however there was no relationship between health locus of control beliefs and the A type behaviour pattern. The findings are discussed in terms of the coping strategies of the A type individual.

Values and vocational choice: a study of value differences in medical, nursing and psychology students.

Groups of nursing, medical and psychology first year students completed the Rokeach Value Survey, which measures both terminal and instrumental values. A third of the terminal and half the instrumental values yielded significant differences. Generally it seemed that the nursing students were more similar to the medical students than to the psychology students in their rank-ordered values for terminal values and to a lesser extent for the instrumental values. Speculations as to the effects of predispositional versus socialization variables on value system structure and change are made for these groups. The problem of confounding variables is also addressed.

Overcoming 'psychosomatic' illness: lay attributions of cure for five possible psychosomatic illnesses.

This semi-replicative study was concerned with lay people's beliefs about the importance of 24 different contributors towards overcoming five relatively common illnesses: hypertension, peptic ulcers, asthma, dermatitis and migraine. These illnesses have frequently been regarded as psychosomatic although there is considerable debate as to whether this is so. One hundred subjects completed a 5-page questionnaire indicating how effective 24 factors were to overcoming the five specified illnesses. Factor analysis revealed almost identical clusters for each problem. These were labelled inner control, social consequences, fate, understanding and receiving help. Items clustering on the first and latter two factors were thought of as generally important and those on fate and, to a lesser extent, understanding, less important, although the perceived relevance of the second and third factors differed significantly between problems. Regressional analysis showed that various individual difference factors, age and sex in particular, were related to perceived relevance of the different contributors. The results were discussed in terms of subjects' beliefs concerning the value of self reliance as opposed to professional help, and the importance of understanding lay beliefs about the efficacy of different cures. Comparisons are made with four other studies using basically the same methodology.

Health, just world beliefs and coping style preferences in patients of complementary and orthodox medicine.

This study was designed to compare health and Just World Beliefs, coping style preferences and the mental health of a group of patients that utilize complementary medicine (CM), a group that exclusively use orthodox medicine (OM) and a mixed group who use both. Each participant filled out a questionnaire consisting of four sections: a measure of health beliefs which attributed certain factors to the state of their current health and to their capacity to become healthier in the future; a measure of the extent of their Belief in a Just World; a measure of coping style preference when faced with a threatening situation; and a measure of mental health. The results, co-varying out demographic factors, showed differences between the group yielded significant differences on the beliefs about future health, with the CM group scoring higher than the OM group. There were no differences in coping styles, Just World Beliefs or mental health between the three groups. The results were discussed in relation to explanations for differences in illness behaviour, specifically the reasons for choosing complementary therapies against orthodox therapies for the treatment of illness.

Re-adjustment of Japanese returnee children from an overseas sojourn.

A questionnaire survey which was devised from the MMPI which was administered to Japanese children aged between 6 and 18 who had returned from an overseas sojourn for the duration of no less than one year (n = 1941) and matched control groups from the same schools who had no overseas experiences (n = 1354). Returnee children showed more dissatisfaction with their lives in Japan, but there was no indication that returnee children had more adjustment difficulties than their counterparts. In fact, they were less worried about their academic achievement and interpersonal relationships. Positive effects of the transcultural relocation were discussed as well as the adjustment.

Lay theories of heroin addiction.

This study examined the structure and determinants of lay people's implicit theories of heroin addiction. A questionnaire was derived from interviews with lay people about their beliefs and theories of heroin addiction and academic literature on the subject. One hundred and forty-four subjects completed the questionnaire, in which they rated 105 statements about the causes, correlates and cures of heroin addiction. The three parts of the questionnaire were individually factor analyzed and a clear, interpretable factor structure emerged for each. The factors seemed similar to explicit academic theories, but the exception was beliefs about cure, which did not show overall support for the most clinically used models. When the three factor analyses were combined into a single 'higher-order' factor analysis four factors emerged, labelled moralistic, psychosocial, sociocultural and drug treatment, which reflect more or less coherent views on the nature of heroin addiction. Subjects' political beliefs was the greatest (demographic and attitudinal) determinant of lay beliefs in these factors, with experience of addiction, addicts, drugs and age also highly correlated. Vote was the main determinant and best predictor of the four 'higher-order' structured lay theories: right-wing voters emphasizing moralistic and individualistic theory and left-wing voters supporting the psychological and societal ideas. Implications for policy and interventions to addicts of these lay theories are considered.

The mental health of foreign students.

Because of the psychological stress associated with university life and the physical and mental stress associated with migration, researchers have become interested in psychological problems of foreign students. In this study four groups of foreign students from different parts of the world were compared with two British groups on a self-report measure of mental health. No sex differences were found yet the overseas students, as a whole, showed significantly more disturbance than either British control or first-year subjects. However, despite many differences between their countries of origin there were no significant differences between any of the overseas groups on the total scale score or any sub-scores. Further, with the exception of Malaysian students, the British subjects were significantly more satisfied with their social lives than the other groups. These findings are discussed in terms of the literature on life events and illness, culture shock and migration and mental health.

Choosing alternative medicine: a comparison of the beliefs of patients visiting a general practitioner and a homoeopath.

This study was concerned with the different health and illness beliefs of patients choosing traditional vs alternative medicine. Two groups of patients, one visiting a GP and the other a homoeopath, were not significantly different in terms of sex, age, education, marital status, religion and income. They were asked to complete a questionnaire measuring such things as their perceived susceptibility to disease and illness; their beliefs concerning their own control over their health; measures of their own mental health; preventive measures in staying healthy; and the perceived efficacy of traditional vs alternative treatment. The major differences between the two groups were the fact that the homoeopathic group were much more critical and sceptical about the efficacy of traditional medicine; they believe that their general health could be improved; and that they tended to have higher psychiatric morbidity. By and large, the two groups did not differ on their beliefs about illness susceptibility or preventive measures. The results suggested that people who choose alternative medicine may do so from disenchantment with, and bad experiences of, traditional medical practitioners, rather than believing that traditional medicine is itself ineffective. Limitations of this particular study are also considered.

Attitudes to alcohol consumption: the attribution of addiction.

Research on smoking has found actor-observer differences in the attributions of addictions. Non-smokers were much more likely to label the average smoker as addicted than the smokers were prepared to label themselves as such. This study sought to determine whether the findings from the studies on smokers generalized to those drinking alcohol. Subjects, who were classified as heavy, moderate, light and non-drinkers on the basis of their self-reported weakly consumption, completed a questionnaire. Results showed that although there were some similarities between findings on the attribution of smoking and drinking, drinkers were less concerned about stopping drinking and less likely to label themselves as addicted. The results were discussed in terms of lay beliefs about the health factors related to drinking.

MMPI profiles of male and female migraine sufferers.

Among a sample of 40 severe migraine sufferers, males and females displayed common personality profiles. Both sexes exhibit heightened scores on those MMPI clinical scales associated with neuroticism (hypochondriasis, depression and hysteria). Female migraine sufferers were further characterised by elevated scores on the primary scales constituting the psychotic tetrad (paranoia, psychaesthenia, schizophrenia, and hypomania). Migraine females appeared to differ from male patients with respect to a dimension associated with sex-role conformity (loaded on the L-scale and masculinity-femininity). The implication of these results are considered.

Psychiatric symptomatology and the recall of positive and negative personality information.

Various studies from the cognitive information processing tradition have shown that neuroticism is particularly associated with the preferential processing of negative information about the self. Just over 60 'normal' subjects completed the Langner (1962, Journal of Health and Human Behaviour, 3, 269-276) 22 measure of minor psychiatric symptoms. Later, they were presented with a list of positive, neutral and negative trait words for self-rating. After 1 hr, subjects were asked to recall all the trait words. As predicted, the Langner (1962) score was associated with an increased probability of recalling negative self-referent information (r = 0.36). Implications for therapy are considered.

State and trait differences in depressive self-perceptions.

A number of investigators have interpreted a tendency for depressed people to recall more negative than positive self-referent adjectives as evidence for a depressive self-schema made up of predominantly negative characterological information. We sought to confirm this account by eliciting the subjective self-perceptions of the depressed. Depressed patients and controls were required to rate whether or not a series of positive and negative adjectives applied to them during the previous week, at any time, and generally. The depressed distinguished clearly between these questions and, although describing themselves currently in largely negative terms, described their general state as equally composed of positive and negative elements.

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.