Obesity among Maltese female adolescents

According to a recent report (Times of Malta 10-6-08) obesity among adolescents in Malta is quite a social issue that requires a multidimensional approach. One way of addressing it is to unravel and examine some possible underlying cultural, psychological and psychosocial issues that may be playing a significant role whether these adolescents are aware of it or not. In this article I would like to address obesity in relation to female adolescents in Malta. The findings of my doctoral research project may be insightful in the issue in question.

Research consistently shows that in developed countries people are striving to move from scarcity needs to security needs. This premise is critical in understanding a phenomenon such as obesity that is crossing cultural boundaries. At one level, the basic individual psychological / emotional needs do not differ across cultures. What differ are the means and the processes that members of a society use to meet those needs. These means and processes differ from one culture to another. That is why examining obesity from a cultural-psychological perspective is so important.

One area that I investigated in the project entitled “Life satisfaction of adolescents: A across cultural study in Malta and Australia” is gender differences in life satisfaction among 3 groups of adolescents (aged between 14-18 years) – native Maltese (living in Malta), Maltese-Australian and Anglo-Australian adolescents.

 According to the results, female adolescents (irrespective of their ethnicity):

• experience (statistically) significantly less overall satisfaction with life than male adolescents
• use more non-productive coping strategies than males
• experience higher levels of perceived social support than male adolescents
• tend to reach out to others as a coping strategy less than males

For female adolescents non-productive coping also contributes to life satisfaction in a negative way. By engaging in this type of coping, girls are more likely to feel that things are out of their control, thereby reinforcing a sense of helplessness.

One of the findings of the in-depth individual interviews among native Maltese adolescents in my project is that girls are having many problems in relation to friends, especially girls. These problems relate mostly to jealousy, defamation and stealing boyfriends.

Another important finding is a strong sense of alienation due to lack of emotional support, both within the home environment and society at large. Although statistically they report higher levels of perceived social support than male adolescents, that support may not be sufficient to meet their needs.

Understanding these findings within a Maltese cultural context.

The above findings indicate that gender plays a significant role in health related issues such as life satisfaction, social support and self-empowerment. To address the current issue of obesity among Maltese female adolescents, one of the questions we need to ask is “Why are these adolescents dissatisfied with life?”

Besides the developmental challenges that these adolescents are confronted with, there is a cultural issue that may be impacting on their subjective well being.
The traditional roles of female adolescents are becoming more pronounced in contemporary Maltese society that is constantly being challenged by non-traditional values and beliefs. The need to challenge these roles may be creating lot of stress, shame and guilt.

Lack of trust and loyalty among native Maltese female adolescents is also a critical issue. In addition, gossip in Malta is widely acknowledged. However, it is the women that are currying the brunt. Indeed, the adage “San Pawl neħħa il-valenu minn ħalq il-lifa u poġġieh f’ħalq in-nisa”  (“St. Paul removed the poison out of the viper’s mouth and put it in the mouth of the women”) is well entrenched in the Maltese language. These friendship issues are a great source of stress as indicated by the current study.

Maltese female adolescents are also experiencing a great sense of helplessness and psychological disempowerment. Once again this issue needs to be understood within a cultural context. Although Maltese women have come a long way in terms of job opportunities, they are still lagging behind in terms of power (including self empowerment).

The issue of emotional support (which is different from instrumental support) for native Maltese adolescents also needs to be considered. This type of support encompasses compassion, understanding and acceptance and perhaps is more salient for female than male adolescents. According to the individual interviews that I conducted these adolescents are not getting enough emotional support from parents. Comments such as “parents are critical and non-understanding” were quite common. These adolescents were not referring to constructive criticism that is essential for their psychological development, but rather to criticism that is quite destructive in nature. Indeed, it is humiliating and degrading to say the least.

It is possible that female (and male) adolescents are unconsciously aspiring to obesity to make a statement (both to themselves and society at large) about the internal / psychological heavy burden that they are carrying. Also, the hunger that these adolescents are experiencing is a hunger for love that needs to be redefined within a Maltese cultural context. Indeed in my doctoral research project I identified a discrepancy between traditional parenting skills (e.g. authoritarian approach) and Maltese adolescents’ psychological and psychosocial needs in contemporary society. The satiation that these adolescents are looking for goes beyond “food” that at one level cannot fill in an existing internal vacuum.

As a community it is our responsibility to peel off the multiple layers of our culture (with great sensitivity and understanding) in order to identify the underlying psychological and psychosocial issues underpinning obesity among Maltese adolescents. These adolescents are crying out for help at a deep emotional level. Unless their needs are identified and met accordingly (in conjunction with other strategies), obesity among the population in question will prevail for generations to come.

Dr. Victoria Borg is an academic at Victoria University in Melbourne. She is also one of the recent recipients of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.  She specializes in mental health across cultures. More information on the findings of her doctoral research project is available on http://www.malteseconnections.com