Ethnic Clothes and Mental Health
The studies findings surprised them – they were expecting that people who maintained their own traditions in a foreign country would experience more stress rather than less. BBC Health News reports that the choice to wear traditional clothes probably reflects family support, and strong family ties:
Ethnic clothes mental health link
Teenage girls from some minority communities who stick to their family customs have better mental health, researchers say.
Queen Mary University of London found Bangladeshi girls who chose traditional rather than Western dress had fewer behavioural and emotional problems.
The team said close-knit families and communities could help protect them.
Pressure to integrate fully could be stressful, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reported.
Traditional clothing represents a tighter family unit, and this may offer some protection against some of the pressures that young people face
Professor Kam Bhui, report co-author
Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to mental health problems, and the researchers said that identity, often bound up in friendship choices or clothing, played a role.
They questioned a total of 1,000 white British and Bangladeshi 11 to 14-year-olds about their culture, social life and health, including questions designed to reveal any emotional or mental problems.
Bangladeshi pupils who wore traditional clothing were significantly less likely to have mental health problems than those whose style of dress was a mix of traditional and white British styles.
When this was broken down by gender, it appeared that only girls were affected.
No similar effect was found in white British adolescents who chose a mixture of clothes from their own and other cultures.
Professor Kam Bhui, one of the study authors, said that the result was “surprising” – he had expected that girls who were less fully integrated to show signs of greater strain.
“Traditional clothing represents a tighter family unit, and this may offer some protection against some of the pressures that young people face.
You can read the rest of the article HERE
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Where would people who live in nudist colonies fit into the equation? I’m just curious… 😀
Ho ho ho, Lofter. Nudism is a lifestyle choice, not an ethnic tradition!
LOL @ lofter’s comment 😀
Oh yeah, TCKs (Third Culture Kids) will always have some sort of mental health problem unless they accept themselves for who they are–unique.
Unfortunately, us Iranians have lost our traditional attire, so I never had a choice of wearing it or not. Till I was 15 I was always lost, had no sense of identity, never knew ‘how’ to be Iranian…till i fell in love with Iranian music…that saved me.
So not only ethnic clothing, but also ethnic music, ethnic food and being able to speak your parents first language also lead to a better mental health.
Just read “The Namesake” which deals with the lost of identity of an American-born kid of Indian immigrants. He too found peace once he felt comfortable in an Indian atmosphere.
I read the Namesake! It was a very uncomfortable book, and I am still thinking about it more than two years later, so in spite of the discomfort, it has stuck with me. Great book. And yes, he had to be comfortable with his Indian-ness and his differences, didn’t he?
What did Iranian women wear, MP, prior to the Ayatollahs, prior to the Shah?
As for food . . . .hmmm, I think I might be Iranian!
I yearn for the day when AdventureMan and I can travel in Iran. I hope to see that day come.
Interesting question.
*goes to her guru Master Google*
Hmmm here’s what i found: The last time Persian woman wore a traditional dress was during the Qajar period (some 90 years ago) and a typical dress looked like this: http://www.badjens.com/secondedition/images/GHAJAR14.jpg
When Reza Shah took power, he banned the hijab (1936); something similar to what Ataturk did in Turkey. The hijab was re-enforced in 1979 when the mullahs came.
This site has lots of pictures on the Iranian attire throughout history including pre-islamic Iran:
http://www.irandokht.com/editorial/index4.php?area=per§ionID=3&editorialID=958
oh on my trip i noticed that some ethnic groups in Iran still wear their traditional clothing in remote villages. This site has pics: http://www.persianmirror.com/culture/fashion/fashion.cfm
Boy, googling that, taught ME a lot. Thanks intlxpatr for asking that question 😀
I think my last comment went to your spam box coz of all the links 😛
I forgot to mention that by the time Iran is freed there won’t be much of it for you and AM to see coz right now they are doing a terrible job of preserving historical sites
Mirror Polisher – Whoops! There went an hour of my life! WOW. I totally love it. I figured out I would have to be Baluchi; I go for “mobile and comfortable” and I love the cap with the silver coins on it. Thank you for giving us such good information!