Body elimination attitude family resemblance in Kuwait.

The purpose of the present study was to determine the family resemblance of attitude toward body elimination in Kuwaiti participants. This study was conceptualized in the context of the theories of moral development, importance of cleanliness in the Muslim religion, cross-cultural differences in personal hygiene practices, previous research reporting an association between family attitudes and body elimination attitude, and health implications. The 24-item Likert-type format Body Elimination Attitude Scale-Revised was administered to 277 Kuwaiti high school students and 437 of their parents. Females scored higher, indicating greater disgust, than the males. Moreover, sons' body elimination attitude correlated more strongly with fathers' attitude (r = .85) than with that of the mothers (r = .64). Daughters' attitude was similarly associated with the fathers' (r = .89) and the mothers' attitude (r = .86). The high correlations were discussed within the context of Kuwait having a collectivistic culture with authoritarian parenting style. The higher adolescent correlations, and in particular the boys' correlation with fathers than with mothers, was explained in terms of the more dominant role of the Muslim father in the family. Public health and future research implications were suggested. A theoretical formulation was advanced in which "ideal" body elimination attitude is relative rather than absolute, and is a function of one's life circumstances, one's occupation, one's culture and subculture, and the society that one lives in.

Comparative prevalence of isolated sleep paralysis in Kuwaiti, Sudanese, and American college students.

A questionnaire measuring the incidence of isolated sleep paralysis was administered to 527 Kuwaiti, 762 Sudanese, and 649 American college students in what was the first study assessing the prevalence of isolated sleep paralysis in two Middle Eastern countries. Using the item "unable to move," 28.8% of Kuwaiti, 29.9% of Sudanese, and 24.5% of American participants reported experiencing the disorder at least once. When a second item, "pressure to the chest," was also used, the respective percentages were 19.2%, 20.7%, and 11.4%. With both criteria, the Kuwaiti and Sudanese had a significantly greater prevalence than did the American students. The Kuwaiti and Sudanese students did not differ significantly from each other in the percentage who reported the symptoms.