12.4.4 Attention deficit disorder.

Psychiatric reports of attention deficit disorder affecting children’s behavior have existed for many decades; however the diagnosis has become more frequent in recent years. Attention deficit disorder is now recognized in many cultures (Faraone & Biederman, 2004). Children diagnosed with the disorder have difficulty in paying sustained attention to issues or to other people and are easily distracted by new stimuli. Attention deficit children are impulsive and hyperactive and in constant motion interrupting the ongoing activities of others. Since the same diagnostic criteria for attention deficit are not used in all societies it is difficult to assess cultural differences in rates of occurrence from comparative cross-cultural studies. Boys are more frequently diagnosed with attention deficit as compared to girls a finding that is consistent in all societies. The overall diagnostic rates vary from 5.8 percent in Brazil to 14.9 percent in the United Arab Emirates (Rohde, Szobot, Polanczyk, Schmitz, & Martins, 2005; Bu-Haroon, Eapen, & Benner, 1999). However, these comparative rates may not be reliable as they depend on one or a few sources reporting on the behavior of children in the class room. Nevertheless, the rates reported are very high and attention deficit disorder obviously affect many thousands of children around the globe.

The cultural context is seen as the primary mediator for children developing the disorder. Western cultures create conditions that elicit attention deficit disorder with increased complexity and constantly changing stimuli derived from the use of technology and other sources. The globalization of the post-modern society brought this stimulation into societies more tranquil in past history (Timimi, 2004). Families live hyperactive lives in modern Western societies where the focus is constantly changing and the pace of complexity is increasing. Educational institutions impose more and more demands on children’s achievements. Today’s kids are exposed constantly to high levels of stress caused by meeting increasingly high standards. The reason that the disorder has been diagnosed more frequently in recent years can be attributed to the increasing complexity brought on by rapid social and technological change in recent decades. However, other researchers note that ADHD is found in many different cultures, and think it has an as yet not well understood neurobiological basis. This is an area of research in need of more comparative studies from different parts of the world in the future. The neural pathways that contribute to ADHD will hopefully be better clarified in the years to come. At the same time we need to better understand how the rapid pace and complexity of modern life promote the development of attention deficit in children.

12.4.5 Personality disorders.

Personality traits are reflected in enduring syndromes of behavior and cognitive or emotional experiences. Personality disorders refer to behaviors and psychological experiencing that is markedly different from the standards in a culture. The symptoms of personality disorders appear to be relatively consistent across cultures according to research in cross-cultural psychology. However, diagnosis must still be made within the norms of society, and therefore depend largely on a culture’s tolerance of inappropriate behavior. Some cultures are very intolerant and punish individuals severely who transgress normative behavior. Collectivistic societies typically have less tolerance for violations of standards and are more likely to punish personality traits that are deviant. In particular behaviors that separate the individual from family and culture like narcissistic traits are unacceptable in collectivistic societies. On the other hand obsessive-compulsive traits may actually be helpful to adjustment in collectivistic cultures since these traits supports adherence to strict demands for conformity to social rules and regulations. For example in Japan the culture reinforces adherence to social discipline and the use of formal rules of interaction (Esaki, 2001). Keeping in mind the cultural context such conformity behavior while it appears compulsive is not deviant within Japanese society.

Modern individualistic societies of the West are more tolerant of personality that deviates from cultural standards. In Western societies deviant personality traits are often accepted as the manifestation of the person’s unique personality and not a matter for society to be concerned about. However, deviant traits that run counter to Western values of self-regulation (like anti-social personalities) are a concern of Western as well as collectivistic societies. Research supports the idea that personality disorders can be reliably assessed in a variety of cultures (Loranger, Sartorius, Andreoli, Berger, Buchheim, Channabasavanna, Coid, Dahl, Diekstra, & Ferguson, 1994; Fountoulakis, Aicovides, Ioannidou, Bascialla, Nimatoudis, Kaprinis, Janca, & Dahl, 2002). In particular support is found for the presence of the antisocial personality in all cultural groups that have been assessed (Robins, Tipp, & Pszybeck, 1991), although again culture may produce varying manifestations.

At the same time our cultural schemas serve as cognitive filters in evaluating behaviors. For example plural wives might be an acceptable and common form of behavior in some traditional cultures while considered dysfunctional and oppressive in others. Expectations for gender related behaviors vary between traditional and modern societies and what is accepted as normal in one cultural setting could be considered abnormal or indicative of personality disorder in another. People all over the world have stereotypes of people from other cultures that deviate from the norms of the observer culture although the validity of these national personality types is not verified. Furthermore, it is important again to emphasize in this context that differences within a cultural group on any personality trait are always greater that differences between cultural societies (Zuckerman, 1990).