A

STUDY

OF

SEX REPRESSIONS:

ITALIAN & IRISH

By Jack Roust

HOMOSEXUALITY

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

LATENT

OVERT

LATENT

OVERT

IRISH

ITALIAN

Psychiatrists have looked for a correlation between homosecuality and schizophrenia (split-personality) for over forty years. Some feel that latent or repressed homosexual drives play a significant part in causing schizophrenia (particularly, paranoid type), while others are of the opinion that it is merely one of the many stages of a schizophrenic break.

One psychiatrist, Dr. Marvin K. Opler, recently made a comparison at Franklin D. Roosevelt Veterans Administration Hospital in Montrose, New York, of the difference between schizophrenic patients of different cultures and ethnic background. Thirty Irish and thirty Italian patients were selected who compared well with regard to age, education, I.Q., length of hospitalization, economic level, and marital status (most were unmarried). All were either immigrants or the sons or grandsons of immigrants. The Irish came originally from the southwest counties, and the Italians from Sicily or southern Italy.

The following charts illustrate the significant findings in three areas:

Opler attributed the differences to the family patterns of the two groups. He found that in the Irish families the mother assumes most of the major re-

one

sponsibilities and treats her sons as "forever boys and burdens." The father, he claims, is often a weak and shadowy figure. Active expression of emotions are discouraged in the Irish homes, while sexual feelings are confused with conceptions of sin. The study found the Irish male to be quiet, repressed and shy or fearful of

women.

Contrasted with this is Opler's assessment of the Italian family: the dominant figure is the father, ruling the family with a sometimes benevolent, sometimes rough hand. Emotions and passions are permitted free expression, with little or no sin attached to sex. He found the Italian male highly excitable, given to open expression of his emotions, and sometimes hostile to his father or older brothers.

The significance of the findings, if any, lies in the fact that the occurrence of homosexuality was the same for both groups (27 cases each), but that the expression of those drives remained latent in the relatively inhibited Irish and found overt outlet in the relatively uninhibited Italian.

Further information on this study can be found in the August Scientific American, or Culture, Phychiatry and Human Values, by Marvin K. Opler.

28