Unit 8: Psychological Health

Question 1

What is a PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER?

Answer 1

a persistent disruption or disturbance of thought, emotion, or behaviour that causes significant distress or impairment in functioning

Question 2

What is an INTERNALIZING DISORDER?

Answer 2

mood, anxiety, disordered eating

in which symptoms are directed inward toward the self

Question 3

What is an EXTERNALIZING DISORDER?

Answer 3

antisocial, conduct disorder, substance use, impulsivity related disorders
in which symptoms are directed outward, toward others

Question 4

What is a TRANSDIAGNOSTIC APPROACH?

Answer 4

views most psychological disorders as different manifestation of a few core, heritable, underlying dimensions

Question 5

What persistent sex differences do we observe across internalizing and externalizing disorders?

Answer 5

in general, women show higher prevalence rates than men for internalizing disorders, and men for externalizing disorders
across the world and ethnic groups
these sex differences emerge in childhood

Question 6

Which disorder is the exception to the sex differences?

Answer 6

Bipolar - no consistent sex difference

Question 7

What factors are considered relevant to the sex differences we see in mental disorders?

Answer 7

Gender role factors
Abuse and violence factors
Personality factors
Biological factors

Question 8

What is the GENDER INTENSIFICATION HYPOTHESIS?

Answer 8

proposes that pressure to adopt sexy-typed traits and behaviour intensifies during adolescence, which contributes to sex differences in depression

girls become more emotional and self-sacrificial; boys become more confident and independent < buffer against depression

Question 9

What is RESPONSE STYLE THEORY?

Answer 9

how people respond to negative moods affects the severity and duration of these moods; people have a stable response style, which can lead to different outcomes

Question 10

What is RUMINATION?

Answer 10

passively and persistently focusing attention on one’s negative mood, its causes, and its possible consequences

women tend to ruminate more when distressed, which correlates with multiple internalizing disorders

Question 11

How do men more typically cope with negative moods?

Answer 11

Physical activity and distraction, which may help prevent development of internalizing disorders

Question 12

What is the impact of abuse and violence on sex differences in INTERNALIZING disorders?

Answer 12

child sexual abuse, which disproportionately affects girls, has profound consequences; can potentially explain up to 35% of the sex difference in adult depression

Question 13

What is the role of NEUROTICISM in sex differences in INTERNALIZING disorders?

Answer 13

Neuroticism: the tendency to experience high levels of negative emotions

women tend to score higher in this trait

Question 14

What are the biological factors that may affect sex differences in INTERNALIZING disorders?

Answer 14

women and girls may respond to stress with more extreme nervous system activity > predicts higher levels of depression and anxiety

higher levels of estrogen may increase the sensitivity of the stress response and vulnerability to long-term stress effects

Question 15

What are the gender role factors in the development of EXTERNALIZING disorders?

Answer 15

boys learn to avoid displaying emotions that might make them vulnerable; anger is a more acceptable emotion&raquo_space; boys learn to express emotions through angry outbursts instead of sad withdrawal

parents tend to use harsher discipline strategies with boys, which could be related to higher incidences of conduct and antisocial disorders

Question 16

What is the parallel negative coping strategy to ruminating that men are more apt to use than women?

Answer 16

distract themselves, sometimes with alcohol and drugs, which can become habitual and result in substance use disorder

men also cope with distraction more often than using healthier methods like seeking social support

Question 17

What are the therapeutic guidelines for clinicians who treat men and boys?

Answer 17

1) increase understanding of gender related problems and strengths
2) intersectional approaches
3) assist male clients in reducing maladaptive, gender-related behaviours
4) better advocate on behalf of boys’ and men’s mental health

Question 18

What is IMPULSIVITY, and what is the opposing trait?

Answer 18

a personality factor consisting of traits such as sensation-seeking, novelty-seeking, and risk-taking

EFFORTFUL CONTROL: the capacity for persistence, focus, and impulse control

Question 19

What is the role of impulsivity and effortful control in EXTERNALIZING disorders?

Answer 19

Externalizing disorders are associated with high levels of impulsivity and low levels of effortful control

there is a large effect size for effortful control that favours girls; medium effect size for impulsivity that favours boys

Question 20

What are CALLOUS-UNEMOTIONAL TRAITS?

Answer 20

personality factors consisting of low levels of empathy, guilt, and warmth

these traits underlie aggression, criminal behaviour, and lack of remorse

boys tend to score higher in these traits than girls

Question 21

How is the PREFRONTAL CORTEX related to sex differences in EXTERNALIZING disorders?

Answer 21

monitors impulse control, emotion regulation and planning behaviours in the brain, affected by prenatal testosterone

tends to develop slower in boys

exposure to a large amount of prenatal testosterone predicts lower volume, which correlate with increased vulnerability to ADHD and other externalizing disorders

Question 22

How does dopamine possibly contribute to sex differences in EXTERNALIZING disorders?

Answer 22

women tend to show enhanced dopamine functioning, which may protect them from poor impulse control

men may be more likely to inherit a variant of the DAT1 gene which regulates the use of dopamine

Question 23

What is the GENDER PARADOX OF SUICIDE?

Answer 23

a pattern in which girls and women more frequently exhibit nonfatal suicide behaviour, while boys and men more frequently die of suicide

may reflect sex differences in suicide methods, and in the problems that predict suicidality

Question 24

What are the strong predictors for suicide in each sex?

Answer 24

Men: work problems, financial problems, substance use, relationship dissolution

Women: problems with children, depression and anxiety, obesity

Question 25

What sex differences are observed regarding eating disorders?

Answer 25

girls and women are 1.75 + 3x more likely to experience eating disorders
rates are also higher among trans people, gay men higher than straight men

Question 26

Which mental illness is associated with the highest mortality rate?

Answer 26

Anorexia

Question 27

What are the risk factors for developing an eating disorder?

Answer 27

Troubled relationships with parents
Early sexual assault
Low self-esteem
Perfectionism
Chronic pressure to be slim
Body dissatisfaction

Question 28

What is OBJECTIFICATION THEORY?

Answer 28

being socialized within a cultural context that objectifies the female body encourages girls and women to internalize an outsider’s perspective on themselves and engage in self-objectification

in studies, men do not show the same reactions of self-objectification

Question 29

What negative mental health outcomes are correlated with self-objectification?

Answer 29

higher levels of eating disorder symptoms
lower self-esteem
more depressive symptoms
reduced psychological well-being (body shame)

Question 30

What factor mediates the relationship between self-objectification and psychological well-being?

Answer 30

body shame

Question 31

What are SOCIAL COMPARISONS?

Answer 31

comparisons between the self and another person on a specific dimension

more common for women and girls, related to eating disorder incidence

Question 32

What is ETHNIC IDENTITY?

Answer 32

a psychological sense of connectedness to one’s racial or ethnic group

Question 33

What role does ethnic identity play in the development of eating disorders in different cultures?

Answer 33

women of colour tend to have a stronger ethnic identity, which weakens the link between thin ideal internalization and eating pathology
HOWEVER, race-based discrimination predicts body shame, which predicts eating disorder symptoms in some ethnicities

Question 34

What is the prevalence of psychological disorders in the LGBTQ+ community?

Answer 34

diagnosed more frequently with both internalizing and externalizing disorders

due to increased social stigmatization, prejudice, physical and verbal victimization &laquo_space;minority stress effect

Question 35

What is MUSCLE DYSPHORIA?

Answer 35

an obsessive preoccupation with increasing muscularity and maintaining low body fat

objectification theory could be applied to explain such a concern
greater exposure to idealized imagines of men’s bodies encourages self-objectification in men

Question 36

Why are men hesitant to seek help from a mental health professional?

Answer 36

for the same reasons that they are hesitant to seek out physical health care
masculine gender role ideals reinforce the ideal of independence, which punishes men for asking for help for seeking guidance over attempting to “solve” their own problems

Question 37

What kind of scenarios that impact mental health are LGBTQ+ individuals at higher risk for?

Answer 37

victimization, discrimination, rejection
homelessness
institutional discrimination/hostile environments

Question 38

How is parental or familial rejection related to psychological disorder?

Answer 38

parental rejection of one’s sexuality predicts higher rates of suicide, depression, illegal drug use, and risky sex

absence of rejection is good, abundance of acceptance is best

Question 39

What did one study suggest is the single best protector against suicidal behaviour among LGBTQ+ and straight kids?

Answer 39

positive connections with parents and family

Question 40

What is INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA/TRANSPHOBIA?

Answer 40

self-directed antigay and anti-trans attitudes held by gay and/or transgender individuals

occurs when people internalize the negative, devaluing attitudes held about their group by the surrounding culture

produces conflicts and stress that can manifest as mental health problems

Question 41

How are internalized homophobia and transphobia related to psychological disorder?

Answer 41

internalized homophobia predicts depression, anxiety, and substance use problems

internalized transphobia predicts depression and suicidality among trans adults

Question 42

What is the STRONG BLACK WOMAN SCHEMA?

Answer 42

a set of beliefs about Black women as strong, resilient, able to persevere despite oppression

this can be a source of strength and self-efficacy, but may also hinder tendencies to seek help as it promotes self-reliance and emotional self-control in the face of stressors

black women who strongly endorse this schema are less willing to acknowledge psychological problems or seek professional help

Question 43

What is SUBJECTIVE WELL BEING?

Answer 43

people’s feelings of both short-term positive emotions and long-term sense of satisfaction, meaning, and purpose in life

Question 44

What sex differences do we observe regarding subjective well-being?

Answer 44

women and men report similar frequencies of positive emotions, women have stronger intensities

women reported greater subjective well-being than men in both middle and high income countries; men were slightly higher in low-income (women are generally less empowered)