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ABSTRACT: The present study examined conceptual issues surrounding celebrity worship in a Malay-speaking population. In total, 512 Malay and 269 Chinese participants from Malaysia indicated who their favorite celebrity was and completed the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) as well as a range of demographic items. Results showed that the majority of Malay and Chinese participants selected pop stars and movie stars as their favourite celebrities, mirroring findings in Western settings. In addition, exploratory factor analysis revealed a three-factor solution of the CAS that was consistent with previous studies conducted in the West. Structural equation modeling further revealed that participant’s age was negatively associated with celebrity worship and that self-rated attractiveness was positively associated with celebrity worship. Overall, the present results suggest that celebrity worship in Malaysia may be driven by market and media forces, and future research may well be guided by use of the CAS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
European Psychologist 10/2012; 16(4):334-342. · 1.31 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: ObjectiveTo examine the associations between life satisfaction, loneliness, general health and depression among 172 medical students
in Malaysia.
MethodParticipants completed a questionnaire battery, which included the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, Beck’s Depression
Inventory, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Satisfaction With Life Scale.
ResultsLife satisfaction was negatively and significantly correlated with suicidal attitudes, loneliness and depression; and positively
with health, which was negatively and significantly correlated with depression and loneliness. Self-concept was negatively
correlated with loneliness and depression, depression was positively and significantly correlated with loneliness. Mediational
analyses showed that the effects of loneliness and life dissatisfaction on depression were fully mediated by health.
ConclusionEven though less satisfied, and particularly lonelier, individuals are more likely to report higher levels of depression,
this is only the case because both higher loneliness and life dissatisfaction are associated with poorer health. These results
are discussed in terms of their implications for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders in developing nations.
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 04/2012; 42(2):161-166. · 2.70 Impact Factor
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Viren Swami,
David A Frederick,
Toivo Aavik,
Lidia Alcalay,
Jüri Allik,
Donna Anderson,
Sonny Andrianto,
Arvind Arora,
Ake Brännström,
John Cunningham, [......], Dhachayani Sinniah,
Mira Swami,
Griet Vandermassen,
Marijke van Duynslaeger,
Markku Verkasalo,
Martin Voracek,
Curtis K Yee,
Echo Xian Zhang,
Xiaoying Zhang,
Ivanka Zivcic-Becirevic
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ABSTRACT: This study reports results from the first International Body Project (IBP-I), which surveyed 7,434 individuals in 10 major world regions about body weight ideals and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the female Contour Drawing Figure Rating Scale (CDFRS) and self-reported their exposure to Western and local media. Results indicated there were significant cross-regional differences in the ideal female figure and body dissatisfaction, but effect sizes were small across high-socioeconomic-status (SES) sites. Within cultures, heavier bodies were preferred in low-SES sites compared to high-SES sites in Malaysia and South Africa (ds = 1.94-2.49) but not in Austria. Participant age, body mass index (BMI), and Western media exposure predicted body weight ideals. BMI and Western media exposure predicted body dissatisfaction among women. Our results show that body dissatisfaction and desire for thinness is commonplace in high-SES settings across world regions, highlighting the need for international attention to this problem.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 03/2010; 36(3):309-25. · 2.22 Impact Factor
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Martin Voracek,
Lisa Mariella Loibl,
Viren Swami,
Mona Vintilă,
Kairi Kõlves, Dhachayani Sinniah,
Subash Kumar Pillai,
Subramaniam Ponnusamy,
Gernot Sonneck,
Adrian Furnham,
David Lester
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ABSTRACT: The genetics of suicide is increasingly recognized and relevant for mental health literacy, but actual beliefs may lag behind current knowledge. We examined such beliefs in student samples (total N = 686) from Estonia, Malaysia, Romania, the United Kingdom, and the United States with the Beliefs in the Inheritance of Risk Factors for Suicide Scale. Cultural effects were small, those of key demographics nil. Several facets of construct validity were demonstrated. Marked differences in perceived plausibility of evidence about the genetics of suicide according to research design, observed in all samples, may be of general interest for investigating lay theories of abnormal behavior and communicating behavioral and psychiatric genetic research findings.
Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 01/2009; 38(6):688-98. · 1.33 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Lay beliefs about schizophrenia have been extensively studied in cross-cultural settings, but research on ethnic differences are currently lacking.
This study examined beliefs about the manifestations, causes and cures of schizophrenia in a multi-ethnic sample from Malaysia.
In this study, 561 Malay, Chinese and Kadazan-Dusun participants rated 72 statements about schizophrenia on a 7-point scale.
Results showed that Malaysians tended to favour social-environmental explanations for schizophrenia. There were also ethnic and sex differences in these results. Specifically, Malay participants more strongly agreed that schizophrenia has a social cause, that treatment should affect changes at a societal level, that schizophrenic behaviour is sinful and that mental hospitals do not provide effective treatments.
Lay beliefs about schizophrenia may serve different functions for different ethno-cultural groups, which have an influence on help-seeking behaviour.
International Journal of Social Psychiatry 04/2008; 54(2):164-79. · 1.15 Impact Factor
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[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: To examine the associations between life satisfaction, loneliness, general health and depression among 172 medical students in Malaysia.
Participants completed a questionnaire battery, which included the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, Beck's Depression Inventory, the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Satisfaction With Life Scale.
Life satisfaction was negatively and significantly correlated with suicidal attitudes, loneliness and depression; and positively with health, which was negatively and significantly correlated with depression and loneliness. Self-concept was negatively correlated with loneliness and depression, depression was positively and significantly correlated with loneliness. Mediational analyses showed that the effects of loneliness and life dissatisfaction on depression were fully mediated by health.
Even though less satisfied, and particularly lonelier, individuals are more likely to report higher levels of depression, this is only the case because both higher loneliness and life dissatisfaction are associated with poorer health. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders in developing nations.
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 03/2007; 42(2):161-6. · 2.70 Impact Factor
