Interesting article... wounder how true it really is.... post your view
Ethnic clothes mental health link
Teenage girls from some minority communities who stick to their family customs have better mental health, researchers say.
Queen Mary University of London found Bangladeshi girls who chose traditional rather than Western dress had fewer behavioural and emotional problems.
The team said close-knit families and communities could help protect them.
Pressure to integrate fully could be stressful, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reported.
Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems, and the researchers said that identity, often bound up in friendship choices or clothing, played a role.
They questioned a total of 1,000 white British and Bangladeshi 11 to 14-year-olds about their culture, social life and health, including questions designed to reveal any emotional or mental problems.
Bangladeshi pupils who wore traditional clothing were significantly less likely to have mental health problems than those whose style of dress was a mix of traditional and white British styles.
When this was broken down by gender, it appeared that only girls were affected.
No similar effect was found in white British adolescents who chose a mixture of clothes from their own and other cultures.
More support
Professor Kam Bhui, one of the study authors, said that the result was "surprising" - he had expected that girls who were less fully integrated to show signs of greater strain.
"Traditional clothing represents a tighter family unit, and this may offer some protection against some of the pressures that young people face.
"What it suggests is that we need to assist people who are moving from traditional cultures and becoming integrated into Western societies, as they may be more vulnerable to mental health problems."
Professor James Nazroo, a medical sociologist at the University of Manchester, said that the findings meant that "notions of Britishness" should be dealt with in a sophisticated way.
"There are many ways in which people can be British - these girls who have good mental health, and still have a strong traditional culture, are by implication settled and comfortable with their identities."
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2 comments:
This article is really interesting and quite surprising...not just because it actually contradicts popular notions that integration into this culture through dress is neccessary for mental well-being. Did they detail what they considered to be Bangladeshi traditional clothing?
Hi Rachel,
I would assume the clothing they refer to is the clothing of the asian subcontinent. That of sharwar kameez and saris.
I wouldnt agree with notions you refer to, I am quite happy to wear what I want, although I myself wear Islamic dress, I find myself much happier compared to some of my relatives and associates who wear clothes to conform.
I would not want to be conforming to what is typical if the culture. Rather I would take aspects of the culture I am in, which are inline to my persoanl tastes and incorporate them into my own style.
Thats how I will maintain my mental welbeing, being in control of what I choose to wear, not what is dictated to me.
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