Social Causation as an explanation for schizophrenia Flashcards
How does social adversity cause schizophrenia?
families affected by unemployment, poverty and a poorer standard of living may be exposed to considerably more stress than other families - the diathesis stress model supports the idea that schizophrenia is triggered by high levels of stress.
What problem would people from Low socioeconomic backgrounds face with schizophrenia?
They may not be able to access treatment for schizophrenia - leaving them vulnerable to possibly exacerbated symptoms.
What did William Eaton (1974) suggest about city life?
He suggested that city life is more stressful than rural life and long-term exposure to such stress may trigger an episode of schizophrenia.
What six factors cause urban areas to be more stressful?
- noise
- light
- crime
- greater animosity
- pollution
- faster pace
What does greater population density in urban areas cause?
It makes life more competitive, whether it be for a seat on the tube or for a job. This can cause CHRONIC DEFEAT, a stressor that could elicit schizophrenic symptoms.
What did Robert Farris (1934) suggest?
He suggested that people with schizophrenia withdraw from society because they find the communication stressful. Such self imposed isolation cuts the individual off from feedback about what behaviours or thoughts are inappropriate - causing them to begin behaving strangely.
What does Boydell et al. (2001) suggest?
First and second generation immigrants are at greater risk of schizophrenia than the general population - however, this risk decreases as the number of people from the same ethnic background increases. This suggests that the cause stems from them being a minority or outgroup, not the fact they belong to a particular ethnicity.
What does Willem Anne Veling (2008) argue?
She suggests that schizophrenia may be a reaction toward the chronic experience of prejudice and discrimination.
what is a strength of the social causation hypothesis ?
it is supported by significant research showing a significant correlation between urban dwelling and schizophrenia
what did Evangelos Vassos et al. (2012) do ?
- performed a meta-analysis from four studies conducted in Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark
- it included nearly 24,000 cases of schizophrenia
- at extremes, they found that the risk was 2.37 times higher for people living in the most urban areas compared to those living in the most rural
what does Evangelos Vassos et al. (2012) suggest ?
it suggests that relative risk of schizophrenia increases in line with population density
what is a weakness of social causation theory ?
- it is not a complete explanation of schizophrenia
- we know there is a genetic contribution - Gottsman and Shields study as evidence
- suggests role of environmental factors may only trigger the onset of schizophrenia in people who are genetically predisposed to the condition
what is the competing argument to the supporting evidence (Evangelos Vassos et al.(2012)) of social causation theory ?
- the data is correlational - so it is not possible to say that urbanicity or adversity is a cause of schizophrenia
- the social drift hypothesis suggests people with schizophrenia find it hard to hold down jobs - leading them to ‘drift’ into a lower social class - leading them to migrate into lower-cost inner-city areas
what is a strength of Veling’s explanation ?
- evidence from complex analysis of self-reported questionnaire data (Veling et al. (2010))
- study found that people classed as marginalised and assimilated were at greater risk of schizophrenia than people classified as integrated
what does Veling’s research suggest ?
it suggests that a strong ethnic identity (identifying with and embracing ethnic ‘differentness’) may be a protective factor against schizophrenia
