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SEX DIFFERENCES IN EXPRESSED EMOTION AMONG MEXICAN AMERICAN
AND EURO AMERICANS CARING FOR A RELATIVE WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA
by
John Paul Keefe
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(PSYCHOLOGY)
August 2011
Copyright 2011 John Paul Keefe
Object Description
| Title | Sex differences in expressed emotion among Mexican American and Euro Americans caring for a relative with schizophrenia |
| Author | Keefe, John Paul |
| Author email | jkeefe@usc.edu;johnpkeefe@gmail.com |
| Degree | Master of Arts |
| Document type | Thesis |
| Degree program | Psychology |
| School | College of Letters, Arts And Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-07-19 |
| Date submitted | 2011-07-19 |
| Date approved | 2011-07-19 |
| Restricted until | 2011-07-19 |
| Date published | 2011-07-19 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Lopez, Steven R. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Meyerowitz, Beth E. McArdle, John J. |
| Abstract | Given its importance in many domains of social interaction, we expected gender to play an important role in family caregiving related to serious mental illness. However, gender has received little attention in expressed emotion (EE) research and the few studies comparing men and women often lacked adequate statistical power to detect differences. The present study draws on data from six prior studies to compare levels of EE by patient sex, caregiver sex, and ethnicity among a sample of Mexican American and Euro American families. Prior research on gender stereotypes and agency and the role of perceived agency in EE informed our hypotheses. We predicted that there would be more criticism of male patients among both ethnic groups, but emotional overinvolvement (EOI) and warmth would be more prevalent for female patients in Mexican American families and male patients in Euro American families. Comparisons by caregiver sex were exploratory in nature. Mexican American and Euro American patients with schizophrenia and their family caregivers (n = 329) participated in the study. EE was assessed with the Camberwell Family Interview. With a MANOVA, we found no effect of patient sex or the patient sex-by-ethnicity interaction on EE indices. However, caregiver sex and the interaction term were significantly associated with criticism, EOI and warmth. With follow-up univariate tests, we found that levels of EOI and warmth were higher for female key relatives as opposed to males among both ethnic groups. The ethnic differences identified by prior research were still present when key relative sex was considered, with Mexican American caregivers having higher levels of EOI and warmth than Euro Americans. Euro American caregivers were more critical than Mexican Americans, but there was no difference in criticism by caregiver sex. These results suggest that caregiver sex is an important variable in understanding EE. The finding that female caregivers have higher levels of EOI and warmth than males can inform future interventions. It suggests that current interventions that focus on reducing criticism should be complimented by strategies to lower EOI, particularly for female caregivers. At the same time, a balance must be achieved so as to not reduce these relatives’ warmth. The finding that EOI is more prevalent among female and Mexican American caregivers suggests that this emotional stance is associated with an orientation towards the family. |
| Keyword | culture; expressed emotion; family caregivers; gender; Mexican Americans; schizophrenia |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Keefe, John Paul |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume71/etd-KeefeJohnP-130.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Full text | SEX DIFFERENCES IN EXPRESSED EMOTION AMONG MEXICAN AMERICAN AND EURO AMERICANS CARING FOR A RELATIVE WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA by John Paul Keefe A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (PSYCHOLOGY) August 2011 Copyright 2011 John Paul Keefe |
