LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY : A CROSS-CULTURAL MODEL

The present paper discusses the possible role of linguistic competence in determining the manifest psychopathology of schizophrenia. It is hypothesised that the linguistic competence may be a significant determinant of psychopathology and may explain the differences in the manifest signs and symptoms, course and prognosis between the various sub-types of schizophrenia and may explain the cross-cultural differences in the phenomenology and outcome of the disease. It is proposed that research should be undertaken in measurement to linguistic differences to test out the above hypotheses

THE MANAGEMENT OF ALCOHOL-RELATED PROBLEMS IN GENERAL PRACTICE IN NORTH INDIA

Twenty-seven general medical practitioners (GPs) were administered WHO semi-structured schedule enquiring “The Management of Alcohol-Related Problems in General Practice”. Majority of the GPs had some involvement in each one of the specified alcohol-related problems. The involvement in alcohol and health education had been modest. Involvement in the control and regulatory activities was minimal. None of them felt that they had any role in the development of health and alcohol policy. Treatment response lo three typical situations appeared to be quite appropriate. To regulate production, to market less potent drinks at cheaper rates, to organize public health education programme through mass media were the suggestions made by them. It is suggested that GPs can and should be encouraged in leadership roles in policy decisions regarding the delivery of services, control and regulation of alcohol and research

ILLNESS BEHAVIOUR QUESTIONNAIRE (IBQ): TRANSLATION AND ADAPTATION IN INDIA

The Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ) of Pilowsky and Spence (1981), which was developed as a self report instrument to record aspects of “Illness Behaviour” particularly those attitudes that suggest inappropriate or maladaptive modes of responding to one's state of health (Pilowsky 1971), was translated into Hindi and adapted. Factor analysis of the data revealed four meaningful factors which correspond with the four out of seven factor reported by original authors

INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DRUG USE, ANOMIE, ALIENATION AND AUTTHORITARIANISM AMONGST UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The degree of addictive substance usage score and three personality variables, namely, authoritarianism, alienation, and anomie were measured in 197 university students through a self-administered questionnaire. WHO's Youth Survey Questionnaire for drag use, Varma et al.'s scale of Authoritarianism, Srole's scale of Anomie, and Pearlin's scale of Alienation, were used. A study of the relationship between the co-variables was studied and is discussed

CORRELATION OF LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE WITH PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

The present study was carried out to test our hypothesis that linguistic competence may importantly determine the manifest symptomatology as well as type of schizophrenia and neurosis. A test of linguistic competence constructed by us after two tryouts and consisting of eight subtests, namely colour naming, naming filial relationships and household objects, TAT (mean lengh of utterance and total number of morphenes), picture arrangement, temporal and spatial relationships, similarities and vocabulary was administered to 15 patients each of acute, paranoid and chronic schizophrenia; manic depressive psychosis; and anxiety, hysterical and obsessive compulsive neurosis. On analysis of variance, the groups differed significantly on household objects, TAT(total morphemes), temporal and spatial relationships and vocabulary. Obsessive compulsive neurotics, paranoid schizophrenics and anxiety neurotics scored highest while chronic schizophrenics and MDP scored lowest on these subtests. The study thus suggests that these illnesses may be phenomenological correlates of high and low linguistic competence, respectively

EXTENT AND PATTERN OF ALCOHOL USE AND ALCOHOL-RELATED PROBLEMS IN NORTH INDIA*

A structured questionnaire was verbally administered individually to a random sample of the general population, 18 years of age and older, of rural and urban Chandigarh and of two villages in Jullundur district, Punjab. Out of a total of 1031 respondents, 23.7 percent were current users, 16.0 percent admitted of alcohol use in the past but were not current users, and 60.3 percent had never had alcoholic beverages. 19.0 percent of Chandigarh urban sample, 31.4 percent of Chandigarh rural sample and 45.9 percent of Jullundur rucal sample were current users. These findings have been discussed in terms of various socio-demographic variable

CONSTRUCTION AND STANDARDIZATION AF A SEX KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE (SKAQ), IN SIMPLE HINDI, FOR NORTH INDIAN POPULATION.

A self-administered questionnaire (SKAQ) in simple Hindi was constructed and standardized for assessing the knowledge and attitude of a north Indian population towards sex. SKAQ is a 55- item questionnaire split into two parts: a 35-item knowledge-part with dichotomous choice of responses and a 20-item attitude-part scorable on 3-point Likert scale. Higher scores indicated a better knowledge and a liberal attitude. Its test-retest reliability was established and discriminant validity demonstrated. Both males and females showed poor knowledge about and entertained conservative attitudes. Surprisingly, normal subjects were no different from patients with sexual problems