Mental health aspects of Turkish women from polygamous versus monogamous families.

BACKGROUND: Polygamy is illegal in Turkey, but is common among rural villagers in the southeastern region. Polygamous marriage may have a negative effect on the wives involved. AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of the relationship between psychiatric disorder and polygamous marriage. METHOD: The mental status of 42 senior and 46 junior wives from polygamous marriages and 50 wives from monogamous marriages was evaluated using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) and Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ). RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference among senior, junior and monogamous wives in terms of the prevalence of somatization disorder. The prevalence of somatization disorder was the highest in polygamous senior wives. The mean total SDQ scores differed significantly among the three groups. It was the highest in senior wives. CONCLUSIONS: It is clear that the participants from polygamous families, especially senior wives, reported more psychological distress. It is essential to increase awareness of the significance of polygamous family structures among psychiatrists and other therapists.

Suicide in Batman, southeastern Turkey.

The southeastern part of Turkey has comparatively high female suicide rates. We aimed to research social, economic, cultural, and psychiatric reasons of suicides in Batman in a case-controlled psychological autopsy study comparing suicides with matched community controls. The female suicide rate was 9.3 per 100.000 and the female/male ratio was 1.72/1. The suicides most frequently occurred in young females, mean age 20.7. The most frequent method (45%) was hanging. The most frequent stressful life events were health problems and family disruption. High suicide rates among females may be related to negative social status of females living in the region.

Juvenile delinquency in a developing country: a province example in Turkey.

The aim of this study was to determine offence behavior, socio-demographic characteristics and some features of the juvenile offenders' families in a selected region, and compare with developed countries. A total of 165 juvenile offenders were included. Information was obtained by individually interviewing all children. Of a total of 165 juveniles, 162 (98%) were boys. The most frequently committed crimes were theft (52%) and wounding (20%). Of these juveniles, 33% were 14 years old when they committed offence, 21% had a history of an offence behavior, 14.5% had an offender sibling, 36% had smoking habits, 21% had a history of running away from home, and 28% had a history of internal migration. Mild psychiatric disorders were detected in 9 (5.4%) and 51% of them were not student at the time of offence behavior. Most of the families were crowded and had rather low economical and educational levels. Some features such as low income and low family educational levels, insufficient parental control, crowded family, migration, repetition of offences, and cigarette smoking were found to be risk factors for offensive behavior. These risk factors can be taken into consideration for the prevention of future crimes.