Moses Chung
University of Douala, Cameroon
Title: Parental behavioural ambivalences and mixed anxiety-depression disorder in young adults of cross-cultural families: Case of Oku and Mbessa communities
Biography
Biography: Moses Chung
Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the impact of behavioural ambivalences of
both maternal and paternal parent communities during and after inter-communal conflicts on
mixed anxiety- depressive disorders in young adults of bi-communal families.
The problem is that young adults of bi-cultural parents are prohibited from going to
war against their maternal community yet members of both communities still reject these
young adults, treating them with love and hate.
This study employed the Double Bind Theory. Two hypotheses set for the study
were:(H1;) Protection-rejection behavior of paternal community and :(H2) Protection-
rejection behaviour of the maternal community during and after inter-communal conflicts
determines anxiety- depressive disorders among young adults born of inter-communal
families.
A sample of 10 Oku, 10 Mbessa, 10 mixed Oku-Mbessa and 10 mixed Mbessa-Oku
young adults were selected. After passing the HADS test, 03 mixed participants with highest
scores were given clinical interviews.
From the scores on the thematic content analysis, results showed that the three
participants were victims of ambivalent behaviours (6/6, 5/6, 5/6 respectively) and positive
for mixed anxiety-depression disorder (5/9, 7/9, 7/9 respectively). This suggests that
ambivalent behaviours of parent communities during the conflicts influenced mixed anxiety-
depression disorder among young adults of mixed families.
Therefore with cultures and traditions as major triggers, conflicting demands from
children of bi-cultures during war can provoke mixed anxiety-depression.
Keywords: Ambivalence. Bi-Communal Families. Mixed Anxiety- Depressive Disorders