Schizophrenia; social psychological; sociocultural factors

Question 1

introduction, Jane Boydell et al(2004)

Answer 1

• Sociocultural factors are exactly what they suggest - aspects of the society or culture in which an individual lives that affect the behaviours of that individual.
• there are many risk factors that can affect an individual, being migrant, being male, being poor, living in an urban environment
• epidemologists aren’t quite sure whether these sociocultural factors work concurrently or whether some pose more of a risk to others.
• Jane Boydell et al (2004) propose that ‘to understand the causes of schizophrenia, the role of the social environment cannot be ignored”.

Question 2

Urbanicity? People living in urban areas.

Answer 2

• We have known since 1939 that there is a higher prevalence of schizophrenia in people living in urban areas compared with rural areas.
• Robert Farris and Warren Dunham (1939) reported a greater incidence of the disorder when comparing the densely populated inner city areas of Chicago with the less populated outskirts of the city.
• The reason for higher rates in urban areas is likely to be due to specific features of urban life.
• Lydia Krabbendam and Jim Van Os (2005) identified factors such as the greater socioeconomic adversity for urban dwellers as well as environmental pollution, overcrowding, drug abuse and exposure to toxins and infectious agents.
• One of the most likely candidates may be the greater social stress that occurs from living in a densely populated area.
• the exact mechanisms of urbanicity need to be carefully considered, as the UN estimate that by 2050, 66% of the world’s population will live in an urban environment.

Question 3

Social Isolation. overcrowding

Answer 3

• Since Eugene Bleuler first coined the term ‘schizophrenia’ in 1911, individuals with schizophrenia have tended to report rather solitary backgrounds, with fewer friends or more limited social networks than individuals without schizophrenia.
• Researchers such as Robert Faris (1934) suggested that people with schizophrenia find contact with other individuals to be stressful, so they withdraw. So urbanicity and overcrowding can lead to social isolation.
• This self imposed isolation cuts the individual off from feedback about what behaviours or thoughts are inappropriate and, in the absence of corrective feedback, they begin behaving strangely.
• Peter JOnes et al (1994) reported the findings of a longitudinal study of 5632 people born in a specific week in March 1946. Childhood data were gathered prospectively, and between the ages of 16 and 43 years, 30 cases of schizophrenia were diagnosed. The researchers found that those individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were more likely to show solitary play preference at ages 4 and 6 years, and at 13 years were more likely to rate themselves as less socially confident. This suggests isolation starts at an early age.

Question 4

Ethnicity and Discrimination.

Answer 4

• Since the 1970s, statistics have shown that higher than expected numbers of individuals of Afro Caribbean descent are diagnosed with schizophrenia.
• This group is also more likely to find themselves being compulsorily admitted as opposed to voluntarily admitted to psychiatric hospitals (Ineichin, 1984)
• The explanation cannot be genetic because the increased risk is not apparent in studies conducted in the Caribbean (Mahy et al. 1994). Therefore, the additional stress induced through migration to a different culture was suggested as being a reasonable explanation for these statistics.
• However the increased risk and diagnosis rates were not only found in first generation migrants, but higher rates of schiozphrenia were also being noted in the children of Afro Caribbean migrants in the UK (Harrison et al 1988).
• As a result, researchers have suggested that discrimination in society and in psychiatry are likely explanations for the higher incidence of diagnosis of schizophrenia in Afro Caribbean individuals in the UK.