Psychological well-being and biological correlates in African women

This study ex[ [her African women with a recalled higher level of quality of childhood relationships would differ significantly with regard to bio-psycho-social wellbeing from women with a recalled lower level of quality of childhood relationships. One hundred and two women completed self-report questionnaires and anthropometrical measures #ere taken. Participants with recalled higher quality childhood relationships were practically significantly (large effect size) leaner, had a higher sense of coherence and had a more optimistic explanatory style than those with recalled lower quality childhood relationships. They also had practically significantly (medium effect size) more social support and purpose in life, better personal relationships, a greater sense of environmental mastery, and higher levels of spiritual well-being. Findings indicate that the quality of recalled childhood relationships of a group of African women. is related to body mass index and to various facets of psycho-social well-being as conceptualised from a Positive Psychology perspective. Childhood relationships 15 Childhood relationships and adult bio-psycho-social well-being in African women. The quality of interpersonal relationships plays an important role in the overall experience of quality of life (Ryff & Singer, 1996, 1998), especially in the case of women (Roothman. Kirsten & Wissing, 2003; Ryff & Singer, 1996). Various facets of interpersonal relationships had been linked to components of bio-psycho-social health in previous research. Few studies could be located that linked parental bonding with body mass as index of physical health in females (Turner, Rose & Cooper, 2005), but no such a study could be found for African women. Research that links childhood experiences to adult psycho-social health as defined from a Positive Psychology perspective is also sparse. Most of the previous studies had been done on western groups, and research with African participants is underrepresented. Women have a high risk for cardiovascular diseases and the insulin resistance syndrome (type 2 diabetes) (Mollentze, Moore, Steyn, Joubert, Steyn, Oosthuizen & Weich, 1995 Steinbaum, 2004; Vorster, 2002), in which body mass is one of the risk indicators. Puoane, Steyn, Bradshaw, Laubscher, Fourie, Lambert and Mbananga (2002) indicated that the occurrence of obesity in African women is double that of Caucasian women in South Africa. Obesity is an important objectively measurable indicator of physical health and has also been linked to mortality in various studies (Allebeck & Bergh, 1992; Allison, Faith, Heo, Townsend-Butterworth & Williamson, 1999; Engeland, Bjorge. Tverdal & Sogaard, 2004; Fontaine, Redden, Wang, Westfall & Allison, 2003; Thorpe & Ferraro, 2004). The current study focuses on recalled quality of childhood relationships and adult bio-psycho-social well-being in a group of African women, where biological Childhood relationships 16 well-being is indicated, inter alia, by body mass, and psycho-social well-being defined from a Positive Psychology perspective Human re1ationship.r and bio-psycho-social well-being The importance of human relationships in making our lives richer and more fulfilling is acknowledged in every culture across all generations. Ryff and Singer (2000:30) made this point by remarking that "quality ties to others are universally endorsed as central to optimal living". Baumeister and Leary (1995) postulated that all humans in all cultures are intrinsically motivated to belong, and that happiness in life is strongly linked to close personal relationships. This is particularly the case in African societies where physical and mental illnesses are understood to be the result of a distortion of the harmony between the individual and his or her world of relationships (people, cosmos) (Bodibe & Sodi, 1997; Ebigbo, Oluka, Ezenwa, Obidigbo & Okalvaraji, 1996). Scholars from diverse disciplines (e.g. psychology, philosophy, ethnology. sociology, anthropology) have studied various facets of interpersonal relationships, with several domains in psychology (e.g. personality, social. developmental, clinical, family) contributing to a large extent, and with an interdisciplinary research approach emerging strongly. From the perspective of the attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973; Hazan & Shaver, 1994; Mallinckrodt, 1992; Sperling & Berman, 1994) it has been predicted that the lack of a secure, close relationship with a caregiver may disturb normal development and may be a risk for a range of emotional and behavioural problems in later life. This has been confirmed in many empirical studies (Carlson, 1998; Collins & Feeney, 2004; Dozier, Stovall, & Albus, 1999). From a Positive Psychology perspective it can be hypothesized that not only behavioural problems or the absence thereof will be related to the quality of Childhood relationships 17 recalled childhood relationships, but also the degree of optimal, positive psycho-social