THESIS
2016
viii, 80 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm
Abstract
Somatization, which refers to the experience and articulation of physiological
problems in response to psychosocial distress, has been found to be prevalent among the
Chinese. Past research in medical anthropology and cultural psychopathology has asserted
that Chinese cultural values are related to somatization, while research in epidemiology and
psychiatry has reported that the prevalence of somatization was associated with a range of
demographics and health factors. To further complicate the picture, somatization among the
Chinese has been found to vary as a function of its operationalization, namely, somatic
expressions and ratings on a checklist. In the present studies, I examined the interplay
between various factors explored in prior studies and somatization with different...[
Read more ]
Somatization, which refers to the experience and articulation of physiological
problems in response to psychosocial distress, has been found to be prevalent among the
Chinese. Past research in medical anthropology and cultural psychopathology has asserted
that Chinese cultural values are related to somatization, while research in epidemiology and
psychiatry has reported that the prevalence of somatization was associated with a range of
demographics and health factors. To further complicate the picture, somatization among the
Chinese has been found to vary as a function of its operationalization, namely, somatic
expressions and ratings on a checklist. In the present studies, I examined the interplay
between various factors explored in prior studies and somatization with different
operationalizations among Chinese participants. The findings revealed that orientation to
Chinese culture had a limited contribution to somatization regardless of the operationalization.
Nevertheless, cultural factors other than orientation to Chinese culture (i.e., Chinese health
beliefs, horizontal collectivism), health factors (i.e., self-perceived health condition, difficulty
identifying feelings), and age were found to be significantly associated with somatization, and
the factors involved varied with the operationalization of somatization. Chinese participants
were also found to have a stronger tendency to somatize their experiences in emotionally
negative scenarios than in emotionally positive scenarios. These findings are consistent with
the previous finding in the arena of psychiatry that somatization is influenced by a wide range
of cultural and non-cultural factors. The present results also challenge the hypothesis that
somatization is mainly a cultural phenomenon.
Post a Comment