Cultural differences in illness schemas - An analysis of Filipino and American illness attributions

Physical illness attributions of Filipinos and Americans were compared to examine cultural variations in the causal component of the physical illness schemas. American (n = 50) and Filipino (n = 100) women rated physical, psychological, and spiritual-social illness explanations, and as predicted, the Filipino women attributed the cause of illnesses to spiritual-social explanations more frequently than the Americans. The influence of education on illness attributions was also examined, and the findings indicated that less educated Filipino women tended to attribute illnesses to spiritual-social causes more often than the more educated group. Implications of cultural differences in illness schemas are discussed as well as the impact of education on schema formation.