Identifying Research Gap and Research Question
Article 1: Difference or Disorder? Cultural Issues in Understanding Neurodevelopmental Disorders (Norbury & Sparks, 2013).
Research gap
With the study focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorder and other Speech-Language Impairments, it acknowledges ASD as a progressive global mental issue. The missing link points to how cultural diversity and disparities among clinicians and caregivers influence their process of identifying, differentiating, and managing ASD and speech- language-related impairments.
Research question
Neurodevelopmental disorders require early identification and intervention that tackle the core of the problem. With families, psychologists, and clinicians tasked with the diagnostic role, which should be standardized and universal, how do their respective cultural values and experience influence their role in identifying and managing the neurodevelopment disorders, especially for ASD and Speech-language impairments? Do diagnostic methods and procedures adopted from the western culture or middle-class applicable for use by all other cultural communities?
Article 2: The Expression of Depression in Asian Americans and European Americans(Kim & López, 2014).
Research gap
Psychologists in their previous studies have made claims of how mood disorders have overtime been implanted on western culture. The unanswered gap studies are looking to answer how does cultural difference between the Asian American and European American in regards to the expression of both somatic and psychological symptomatology of depression. Future research studies should answer why clinical samples and community samples differ in the expression of the somatic symptoms of depression within the Asian American communities.
Research question
The study seeks to determine differences, if any, in the expression of both somatic and psychological symptoms of depression between the European Americans and Asian Americans. What are the socio-cultural disparities between the European Americans and Asian Americans that inform the expression of depression in both clinical setup and at the community level?
Article 3: The Relative Impact of Socioeconomic Status and Childhood Trauma on Black-White Differences in Paranoid Personality Disorder Symptoms / Brief Report
Research gap (Iacovino, Jackson, & Oltmanns, 2014).
Paranoid Personality Disorder Symptoms have heavily been linked to lower socioeconomic status, and childhood trauma identified to be rampant within the blacks than the whites. It is yet unclear the role of lower socioeconomic status implicates on the racial differences seen in PPD symptoms.
Research question
To what extent do socioeconomic status (SES) and childhood trauma determine the disparities between the Blacks’ and Whites’ PPD symptoms? Are racial differences in PPD symptoms as a result of inequalities in socioeconomic status or a product of more socio-problems within the Blacks?
Article 4: Cultural Barriers to African American Participation in Anxiety Disorders Research (Williams, Beckmann-Mendez, & Turkheimer, 2013).
Research gap
Overtime researchers, particularly psychologists, have made tremendous efforts to include minority groups such as African Americans when enrolling participants for Anxiety Disorder research studies as this influences Diagnostic Criteria (DSM-V). It is unclear how cultural barriers and its elements act on the enrollment of African Americans in Anxiety disorder research.
Research question
African American regarded as less participative in psychological researches such as anxiety disorders, do cultural mistrust and cultural barriers within the African American impact on the low their enrollment into these psychological research?
Article 5: Prevalence and correlates of alcohol and cannabis use disorders in the United States: Results from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health (Haberstick et al., 2014).
Research gap
Countries such as the United States have legalized the use of cannabis. Reputable surveys have shown increased disorders related to the use of alcohol, and marijuana among the adolescent, especially men, in the United States. The impact of socioeconomic status and socio-demographics on cannabis and alcohol use among adolescents and young adults is yet to be assessed within the sex distinction.
Research question
With the disorders related to marijuana and alcohol use evidently on the rise among young adults, especially men, does socioeconomic status contribute to these numbers?
References
Haberstick, B. C., Young, S. E., Zeiger, J. S., Lessem, J. M., Hewitt, J. K., & Hopfer, C. J. (2014). Prevalence and correlates of alcohol and cannabis use disorders in the United States: Results from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 136, 158–161. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.11.022
Iacovino, J. M., Jackson, J. J., & Oltmanns, T. F. (2014). The relative impact of socioeconomic status and childhood trauma on Black-White differences in paranoid personality disorder symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 123(1), 225–230. doi: 10.1037/a0035258
Kim, J. M., & López, S. R. (2014). The expression of depression in Asian Americans and European Americans. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 123(4), 754–763. doi: 10.1037/a0038114
Norbury, C. F., & Sparks, A. (2013). Difference or disorder? Cultural issues in understanding neurodevelopmental disorders. Developmental Psychology, 49(1), 45–58. doi: 10.1037/a0027446
Williams, M. T., Beckmann-Mendez, D. A., & Turkheimer, E. (2013). Cultural Barriers to African American Participation in Anxiety Disorders Research. Journal of the National Medical Association, 105(1), 33–41. doi: 10.1016/s0027-9684(15)30083-3