RESUMO
In many contemporary societies, misinformation, epistemic arrogance, and intergroup conflict pose serious threats to social cohesion and well-being. Wisdom may offer a potential antidote to these problems, with a recently identified Common Wisdom Model (CWM) suggesting that wisdom involves epistemic virtues such as intellectual humility, openness to change, and perspective-taking. However, it is unclear whether these virtues are central for folk concepts of wisdom in non-Western contexts. We explored this question by conducting focus group discussions with 174 participants from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, two countries facing socio-political and economic challenges. We found that epistemic themes were common in both countries, but more so when participants were asked to define wisdom in general terms rather than to describe how it is acquired or expressed in daily lives. Moreover, epistemic themes were more prevalent among Filipino than Sri Lankan participants, especially when the questions posed were abstract rather than concrete. We discuss how these findings relate to the CWM and the socio-cultural contexts of the two countries, and suggest that a question format should be considered in cross-cultural research on wisdom.
RESUMO
AIMS: There is a dearth of mental health research on undergraduates in Sri Lanka. This study examines the prevalence of depression in a sample of Sri Lankan undergraduates, their exposure to threatening life events and the predictors of their depression. METHODS: Responses of 4304 undergraduates were obtained on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and a measure of exposure to threatening life events, with binary logistic regression models used to identify the demographic and life event correlates of screening positive for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). RESULTS: PHQ-9 diagnoses of 'Major' and 'Other' depression were obtained by 9.3% and 13.5% of undergraduates, respectively. A higher likelihood of MDD was seen among those who were older and those living in hostels (compared to home), although no differences were seen between genders or those studying in different faculties. Likelihood of MDD was higher in undergraduates exposed to multiple threatening life events as well as those exposed to physical threat; family deaths; romantic break-ups; a problem with a close associate; educational difficulties; unemployment and domestic violence, and among male undergraduates harassed by another student. CONCLUSIONS: MDD is prevalent in these undergraduates and universities need to develop services to assist them. Such services may also need to focus on supporting those who have experienced threatening life events, particularly those that arise as a result of being an undergraduate, as these may increase the risk of MDD.
