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Social Pathways in the Comorbidity between Type 2 Diabetes and Mental Health Concerns in a Pilot Study of Urban Middle‐ and Upper‐Class Indian Women
Author(s) -
Weaver Lesley Jo,
Hadley Craig
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1111/j.1548-1352.2011.01185.x
Subject(s) - mental health , anxiety , type 2 diabetes , normative , diabetes mellitus , depression (economics) , comorbidity , social support , medicine , clinical psychology , gerontology , psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , endocrinology , philosophy , epistemology , economics , macroeconomics
This report describes preliminary findings about the connections between type 2 diabetes, mental health, and normative social roles among women living in Delhi, India. We conducted freelist interviews with 62 diabetic and nondiabetic women about women's roles, perceptions of diabetes, and “tension,” a common Hindi‐language idiom used to express stress. Using the freelist results, we produced and then administered a questionnaire to a pilot sample of 33 diabetic women. Among the diabetic women, physical symptoms of diabetes predicted higher biomedical anxiety and “tension,” whereas difficulties achieving gender‐specific social roles predicted higher biomedical depression. We conclude that both physical symptoms of diabetes and difficulties achieving socially important roles contribute to poor mental health among these diabetic women; further research will clarify the relationships among depression, anxiety, “tension,” and women's physically and socially mediated experiences of diabetes.