FEMALE ROLE, DEPRESSION, STRESS, AND LOCUS OF CONTROL IN KUWAITI
The proposed research consists of a test of whether Kuwaiti females that identify with traditional roles prescribed for women in Kuwaiti/Arab society significantly differ in directionality of locus of control (external/internal) and their levels of depression, and stress when compared to Kuwaiti females that identify with the more liberal notions of the female role held by Western culture. To this end, the proposal develops a model of the impact of female role on Kuwaiti women's stress and depression levels, and discusses the relationship of stress and depression to locus of control. The model is then used to formulate predictions (hypotheses) of differences between the two groups.
Depression in Kuwaiti females is at an all time high (Al-Ansari, Essam, El-Hilu, El-Hihi & Hassan, 1990; Malasi, Mirza & El-Islam, 1989; Fido & Mughaiseeb, 1989). While the causes of this increase in depressive illness are not known with a strong degree of precision, family conflict has repeatedly been found to be associated with levels of depressive illness in Kuwaiti women (Malasi, Mirza & El-Islam, 1989; Suleiman, Moussa & El-Islam, 1989; Malasi & Suleiman, 1988).
According to El-Islam, Malasi & Abu-Dagga (1988), the family conflict which is so often associated with depressive illness in Kuwaiti women is frequently the result of family arguments over the role to be played by women in Kuwait society with some family members arguing for the more traditional Arab views of the place of women in society and other family members arguing for the more liberal views held by Western society. As El-Islam and associates put it:
. . .interpersonal disagreements [in families]. . .arise between those who adhere to the traditions of the indigenous Arab culture in Kuwait and those who accept the more liberal attitudes conveyed by Western culture. (p.109)
The authors state that the greater ...