Social causation for Sz Flashcards
What is social adversity?
Some children grow up in environments which are less favourable than others and this can make them more vulnerable to mental health disorders. For example families affected by employment, poverty and poor standard of living may be exposed to considerably more stress than other families.
What is social isolation?
Robert Faris has suggested that people with Sz withdraw because they feel that contact with others is stressful. Such self-improved isolation cuts the individual from feedback about what behaviours or thoughts are inappropriate and in the absence of corrective feedback, they begin behaving abnormally.
What is urbanicity?
William Eaton suggested that city life is more stressful than rural life and long term exposure to such stress may trigger an episode of Sz. There are many stressors linked to city life such as, light pollution, criminality, faster paced and greater anonymity. These factors may make a person more vulnerable to Sz.
Effects of social stress (developmental psychology)
Lederbogen et al used fMRI scans to reveal a link between growing up in an urban environment and later sensitive to social stress. Ppts had to solve problems whilst receiving negative feedback about their performance. The ppts who grew up in cities showed greater activity in the amygdala and the ACC. These brain regions regulate emotions and stress responses.
Meta-analysis supports the role of urban dwelling
Evangelos vassos et al performed meta analysis of data from 4 studies. They correlated location (urban to rural) with Sz risk and found that at the extremes the risk was 2.37 times higher for the people living in an urban environment than those living i rural places.
What is immigration and minority status?
First and second generation immigrants are at greater risk of Sz than the general public. However the risk decreases as the number of people from the same ethnic background increases. This indicates that is it minority or out group status that is the key, as opposed to belonging to any particular ethnic group.
What is the social drift hypothesis?
People with Sz find it hard to hold themselves a job, leading them to ‘drift’ in to a lower social class. This can lead to them migrating into deprived inner city areas thus Sz leads to urbanicity rather than vice versa.
What is the social defeat hypothesis?
Social defeat happens when an individual is exposed to hostile confrontations from another individual. Such confrontations result in being excluded from majority groups and creates high levels of stress.
Weakness
Other explanations are more scientific as they use the likes of brain scans which are more scientific and objective
Weakness
Not everyone who lives in a city who is exposed and experiences stressors in their environment is not going to develop Schizophrenia. therefore it is difficult to judge specific characteristics and how they might affect an individual.
Strength
Census data shows that those who are African Caribbean and black immigrant populations have higher incidence of sz.
Weakness
Labelling may occur to those who suffer from sz and are in lower classes of society.
Diathesis stress model
Its likely to be a range of reasons that are biological and environmental factors so its important to consider both nature and nurture.
