This essay will focus on the cultural and gender variations in the prevalence of an affective disorder, depression, and an eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and whether or not there is a cultural and gender difference in the onset of these disorders.
Individuals with bulimia are afraid of weight gain, and they will undertake binge eating and then use compensatory methods to lose weight, such as induced vomiting, excessive exercise and use of laxatives. Symptoms of bulimia include swollen salivary glands, due to vomiting, stomach and intestinal problems, feelings of guilt after binge eating and negative distorted image about their body weight.
According to statistical evidence, eating disorders are more common in females than in males. An estimated 35% of those with binge-eating disorders are males, with the rest of it being females. Eating disorders are also more common in teenagers, with 50% of girls between the ages 11-13 seeing themselves as overweight.
Fallon and Rozin wanted to see if there was a gender difference in body image. They showed US undergraduates figures of their own sex and asked them to indicate the figure that looked most like their shape and their ideal figure. Men selected very similar figures, whereas women tend to choose thinner attractive bodies that were much thinner than the shape they indicated as their own. They also asked men to choose a female figure that they thought was attractive to them, and found that the figure they found attractive was heavier than the ideal figure that women chose. Women believed that men prefer thinner women than they actually do. They concluded that there is a gender difference in the perception of body image, which explains why women are more susceptible to eating disorders than men.
There are also cultural differences in the susceptibility of bulimia. Lee, Hsu and Wing found that bulimia and anorexia was non-existent among the Chinese in Hong Kong. Chinese people are usually slim, and therefore they do not share the Western fear of being fat. The Chinese regard thinness as a sign of ill-health, unlike the Western view that it is a sign of self-discipline. Obesity is a sign as a sign of weak control in the West, whereas Chinese people see it as a sign of wealth and prosperity. Having grown up in Hong Kong myself, I have never met someone with an eating disorder, and the majority of people are either underweight or within the normal weight range.
Baguma et al also found cultural differences in the susceptibility of bulimia. It seems that the culture we live in really affects our eating behaviours. He asked British and Uganda students to examine a set of nude bodies ranging from very thin to very obese. When asked to rate which body they thought were ideal, the British people tend to chose very thin bodies, whereas Uganda students chose very obese bodies. In the Uganda society, fat is beautiful, and in the British society, slim is attractive. Thus this shows that cultural factors affect the way we think, which may explain why the Western society has such a high rate of people with eating disorders.
Similarly, there are also cultural and gender variations in the prevalence of depression. People with depression usually experience feelings of guilt and sadness, lack of enjoyment and pleasure in anything. They will have frequently negative thoughts, including low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.
According to statistical evidence, women are two to three times more likely to be clinically depressed than men. Women are also more likely to experience several episodes of depression. This may be explained by gender norms or gender differences in society. Koss et al found that discrimination against women began early in their lives. Women are twice as likely to suffer sexual abuse in childhood and this pattern of victimization is maintained in adulthood, where women make up the majority of victims in physical assault.
Culture may also influence our onset of depression, as some cultures discourage depression more than others. For example, Chiao et al found that depression was higher in individualistic cultures than in collectivistic cultures. Similarly, Gabilondo et al found that depression occurs less frequently in Spain (collectivistic culture) and there there is a lower suicidal rate compared to Europe countries (individualistic). This is perhaps because collectivist groups discourage depression as they have more social support than individualistic cultures, who encourage independence.
In conclusion, there are cultural and gender variations in the onset of depression and bulimia. In both disorders, women are more vulnerable and susceptible in developing these disorders than men. Similarly, culture also plays an important role in the influence of these disorders. People are affected by their culture - if their culture rewards thinness, then they will strive to be thin.
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