Judora J. Spangenberg

Stressful Life Events and Psychological Status in Black South African Women

The relationship between stressful life events and psychological status in Black South African women was explored, using a semistructured interview that consisted of a demographic questionnaire; the Xhosa Life Event Scale (XLES; Swartz, Elk, Teggin, & Gillis, 1983), which comprises mainly personal stressors; the Township Life Event Scale (TLES; Bluen & Odesnik, 1988), which comprises mainly sociopolitical stressors; and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, Goldberg, 1972, 1978). The participants were a random sample of 100 Black women living in a South African township. There were significant positive correlations between psychological distress and (a) undesirable life changes, (b) recurring stressful events of a sociopolitical nature (but not of a personal nature), and (c) continuous stressful events of a sociopolitical nature (but not of a personal nature). The results indicated that adverse sociopolitical conditions and the stress that accompanied them had a stronger negative effect than stressful events of a personal nature did on the womens mental health.

DSM-III-R Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

DSM-III-R criteria applied in the evaluation of 88 systemic lupus erythematosus patients revealed a point prevalence rate of 18.2% for psychiatric disorders, the most common diagnosis being adjustment disorder (11.4%). No patients had disorders compatible with a functional psychosis. Psychiatric morbidity was not associated with increased disease activity, corticosteroid use, brain magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities, or electroencephalogram abnormalities. High scores on a life event scale were associated with psychiatric disorders, suggesting that psychosocial stress is etiologically important. Cognitive testing showed that poor performance on the Stroop Colour-Word Inference Test was associated with psychiatric disorders.

Factors related to postpartum depression.

To determine which factors from a range of demographic, perinatal, psychosocial and hormonal factors were related to postpartum depression, a sample of 81 women between two weeks and six months postpartum was divided into a depressed group (n = 22) and a non-depressed group (n = 59) by means of the Beck Depression Inventory as the main measure and the Visual Analogue Scale as an additional measure. A demographical questionnaire, a social support questionnaire and a marital satisfaction questionnaire were completed by each subject. A depression incidence rate of 27,2% was found. Significant differences were found between the depressed group and the non-depressed group regarding social support, marital satisfaction and premenstrual tension. No significant differences were found regarding age, parity, previous depressive episodes, Caesarean births and prematurity. It was concluded that psychosocial and hormonal factors played a more important role in postpartum depression than demographic and perinatal factors.

Disordered water homeostasis and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia

To investigate a possible association between disordered water homeostasis and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, neuropsychological tests were applied to 16 schizophrenic patients with severely deranged water homeostasis and to 16 matched schizophrenic controls. The patients with disordered water homeostasis tended to obtain poorer scores than the controls throughout, the differences being statistically significant for two of the tests (Wechsler Memory Scale Visual Reproduction and Trial Marking Test part A). These results were not ascribable to differences in the duration of the illness, premorbid IQ, medication, or electroconvulsive therapy received, or prominence of any particular symptoms. The results suggest the co-existence of disordered water homeostasis and cognitive impairment in a subset of schizophrenic patients.

The Effect of Equal-Status Contact on Ethnic Attitudes

Summary The ethnic attitudes of 95 white academics working together with Coloured colleagues in an equal-status contact situation were compared with those of 100 white academics in a no-contact situation, by means of an adapted social distance scale. The effects exercised on ethnic attitudes by intergroup friendship, conservatism, authoritarianism, home language, sex, age, and fathers educational level were examined. The most important finding is that equal-status contact correlated significantly with positive ethnic attitudes: i.e., low social distance. A significant positive correlation was found between positive ethnic attitudes and intergroup friendship. Significant negative correlations were found between ethnic attitudes and conservatism, as well as authoritarianism. Ethnic attitudes of English-speaking Ss were more positive than those of Afrikaans-speaking Ss. No significant correlations were found between ethnic attitudes and sex, age, or fathers educational level.

Androgyny and coping in men with a managerial orientation

To examine the relationship between sex-role orientation and coping ability in men with a managerial orientation, a demographic questionnaire, the Zeitlin Coping Inventory and the Bem Sex-role Inventory were completed by 169 adult males undertaking the Master of Business Administration (MBA) course at the University of Stellenbosch Graduate School of Business. No significant difference was found between the global coping abilities of subjects with androgynous and masculine sex-role orientations, although both androgynous and masculine subjects showed significantly better coping abilities than subjects with feminine or undifferentiated sex-role orientations. Regarding coping styles, androgynous subjects displayed a significantly more flexible style in coping with the environment than subjects with other sex-role orientations. No significant difference was found between androgynous and masculine subjects regarding flexibility in coping with the self. The conclusion was drawn that both androgyny and masculinity could serve as effective coping resources in men with a managerial orientation.

Coping, Androgyny, and Attributional Style

To examine the impact of androgyny and attributional style on coping ability, a demographic questionnaire, the Zeitlin Coping Inventory, the Bem Sex-role Inventory and the Attributional Style Questionnaire were completed by 301 first-year students at the University of Stellenbosch. It was found that androgynous female subjects displayed significantly better coping abilities than female subjects with feminine, masculine, or undifferentiated sex-role orientations. No significant difference was found between coping abilities of androgynous and masculine male subjects, although both androgynous and masculine males showed significantly better coping abilities than males with feminine or undifferentiated sex-role orientations. Regarding a specific aspect of coping, namely flexibility of coping style, both male and female subjects with androgynous sex-role orientations displayed significantly more flexibility in their coping styles than subjects of any other sex-role type. Regarding attributional style, a significant positive correlation was found between good coping ability and an internal, stable, and global attributional style for positive events. A significant positive correlation was likewise found between good coping ability and an external, unstable, and specific attributional style for negative events. The conclusion was drawn that androgyny and an adaptive attributional style served as important coping resources.