Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cultural consonance and psychological distress: examining the associations in multiple cultural domains

  • Published:
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cultural consonance is the degree to which individuals, in their own beliefs and behaviors, approximate widely shared cultural models. In previous research in Brazil and the United States we found that higher cultural consonance in the cultural domains of lifestyle and social support was associated with lower psychological distress. The aim of this paper is to expand on these results in two ways. First, the measurement of cultural consonance has been improved through a closer link of cultural domain analyses and survey research. Second, the number of domains in which cultural consonance has been examined has been expanded to include—along with lifestyle and social support—family life, national identity, and food. We found that cultural consonance in these five domains can be conceptualized as two latent variables of generalized cultural consonance, and that this generalized cultural consonance is associated with lower psychological distress. These results continue to support the usefulness of cultural consonance as a theoretical construct in the explanation of human social suffering.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Almeida-Filho, Naomar (1987) Becoming Modern After All These Years. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 22(3):285–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Almeida-Filho, Naomar, Ines Lessa, Lucélia Magalhães, Maria Jenny Araújo, Estela Aquino, Sherman A. James, and Ichiro Kawachi (2004) Social Inequality and Depressive Disorders in Bahia, Brazil. Social Science and Medicine 59(7):1339–1353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, Benedict (1993) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonovsky, Aaron (1981) Health, Stress, and Coping. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atran, Scott, Douglas L. Medin, and Norbert O. Ross (2005) The Cultural Mind. Psychological Review 112(4):744–776.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Averbug, A. (2002) The Brazilian Economy in 1994–1999: From the Real Plan to Inflation Targets. World Economy 25(7):925–944.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger, Peter L., Thomas Luckman (1966) The Social Construction of Reality. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, Pierre (1990) In Other Words: Essays toward a Reflexive Sociology. M. Adamson, trans. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

  • Burns, E. Bradford (1993) A History of Brazil. 3rd ed. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caulkins, D. Douglas (2001) Consensus, Clines, and Edges in Celtic Cultures. Cross-Cultural Research 35(2):109–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, Sheldon, Thomas Karmarck, and Robert Mermelstein (1983) A Global Measure of Perceived Stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 24(4):385–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, Catherine R., and Jill Denner (1998) Theories Linking Culture and Psychology. Annual Review of Psychology 49:559–584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coreil, Jeannine, and Patricia Marshall (1982) Locus of Illness Control: A Cross-Cultural Study. Human Organization 41(2):131–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossley, Nick (2001) The Phenomenological Habitus and Its Construction. Theory and Society 30(1):81–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Andrade, Roy G. (1984) Cultural Meaning Systems. InCulture Theory: Essays on Mind, Self and Emotion. Richard A. Schweder and Robert A. Levine, eds., pp. 88–119. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • (1992) Schemas and Motivation. InHuman Motives and Cultural Models. Roy D’Andrade and Claudia Strauss, eds., pp. 23–44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • (1995) The Development of Cognitive Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • da Matta, Roberto (1985) A Casa e a Rua. São Paulo, Brasil: Editora Brasiliense.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Munck, Victor (2000) Culture, Self, and Meaning. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dohrenwend, Bruce P., and Barbara S. Dohrenwend (1969) Social Status and Psychological Disorder: A Causal Inquiry. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W. (1985) Psychosomatic Symptoms, Stress, and Modernization: A Model. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 9(3):257–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • (1991) Stress and Adaptation in the Context of Culture: Depression in a Southern Black Community. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • (2004) Culture and the Risk of Disease. British Medical Bulletin 69:21–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • (2005) What’s Cultural about Biocultural Research? Ethos 33(1):20–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., and James R. Bindon (2000) The Health Consequences of Cultural Consonance: Cultural Dimensions of Lifestyle, Social Support, and Arterial Blood Pressure in an African American Community. American Anthropologist 102(2):244–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., and José Ernesto Dos Santos (2001) Correlaçoes sociais e culturais com a pressão arterial: os estudos de Dressler e Dos-Santos. Revista Brasileira de Hipertensão 8(2):225–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., Mauro C. Balieiro, and Jose Ernesto Dos Santos (1997) The Cultural Construction of Social Support in Brazil: Associations with Health Outcomes. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 21(3):303–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • (1998) Culture, Socioeconomic Status and Physical and Mental Health in Brazil. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 12 (4):424–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • (2002) Cultural Consonance and Psychological Distress. Paidéia: Cadernos de Psicologia e Educação 12(22):5–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., Mauro C. Balieiro, Rosane P. Ribeiro, and José Ernesto Dos Santos (2005) Cultural Consonance and Arterial Blood Pressure in Urban Brazil. Social Science and Medicine 61(3):527–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., Camila D. Borges, Mauro C. Balieiro, and José Ernesto Dos Santos (2005) Measuring Cultural Consonance: Examples with Special Reference to Measurement Theory in Anthropology. Field Methods 17(4):331–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., Jose Ernesto Dos Santos, and Mauro Campos Balieiro (1996) Studying Diversity and Sharing in Culture: An Example of Lifestyle in Brazil. Journal of Anthropological Research 52(4):331–353.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., Jose Ernesto Dos Santos, Philip N. Gallagher, Jr., and Fernando E. Viteri (1987) Arterial Blood Pressure and Modernization in Brazil. American Anthropologist 89(2):389–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dressler, William W., Rosane P. Ribeiro, Mauro C. Balieiro, Kathryn S. Oths, and José Ernesto Dos Santos (2004) Eating, Drinking and Being Depressed: The Social, Cultural and Psychological Context of Alcohol Consumption and Nutrition in a Brazilian Community. Social Science and Medicine 59(4):709–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finch, B. K., R. Frank, and William A. Vega (2004) Acculturation and Acculturation Stress: A Social-Epidemiological Approach to Mexican Migrants Farmworkers’ Health. International Migration Review 38(1):236–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gaines, Atwood D., and Paul E. Farmer (1986) Visible Saints: Social Cynosures and Dysphoria in the Mediterranean Transition. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 10(3):295–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Good, Byron (1994) Medicine, Rationality, and Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodenough, Ward H. (1996) Culture. InEncyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. David Levinson and Melvin Ember, eds., pp. 291–299. New York: Henry Holt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gorer, Geoffrey (1948) The American People: A Study in National Character. New York: Norton

    Google Scholar 

  • Guarnaccia, Peter J., and Orlando Rodriguez (1996) Concepts of Culture and Their Role in the Development of Culturally Competent Mental Health Services. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 18(4):419–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handwerker, W. Penn (2001) Quick Ethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaskyte, Kristina, and William W. Dressler (2004) Studying Culture as an Integral Aggregate Variable: Organizational Culture and Innovation in a Group of Nonprofit Organizations. Field Methods 16(3):265– 284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, Janis Hunter (2004) Specifying Culture, Self, and Experience. InSchizophrenia, Culture, and Subjectivity. Janis Hunter Jenkins and Robert Johns Barrett, eds., pp. 29–61 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, Janis Hunter, and Robert Johns Barrett (2004) Introduction. In Schizophrenia, Culture, and Subjectivity. Janis Hunter Jenkins and Robert Johns Barrett, eds., pp. 1–28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, George A. (1995) Where Do Shared Pathways Lead? Psychosomatic Medicine 57(3):208–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Keesing, Roger M. (1974) Theories of Culture. In Annual Review of Anthropology. Vol. 3. Bernard J. Siegel, Alan R. Beals, and Stephen A. Tyler, eds., pp. 73–97. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleinman, Arthur (1988) Rethinking Psychiatry. New York: Free Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuper, Adam (1999) Culture: The Anthropologists’ Account. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leite, Dante Moreira (2002) O Caráter Nacional Brasileiro. 6th ed. São Paulo, Brazil: Editora UNESP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, Steven R., and Peter J. Guarnaccia (2000) Cultural Psychopathology. Annual Review of Psychology 51:571–598.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maercker, Andreas (2001) Association of Cross-Cultural Differences in Psychiatric Morbidity with Cultural Values. German Journal of Psychiatry 4(1):17–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manuck, Stephen B., and Jay R. Kaplan (1999) Status, Stress, and Atherosclerosis: The Role of Environment and Individual Behavior. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 896:145–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newkirk, Christine N., Kathryn S. Oths, William W. Dressler, and José Ernesto dos Santos In press Intracultural Diversity in Food Knowledge in Southern Brazil. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 42(4):303–324

  • Nichter, Mark (1981) Idioms of Distress. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 5(4):379–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oths, Kathryn S., Adriana Carolo, and José Eduardo Dos Santos (2003) Social Status and Food Preference in Southern Brazil. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 42(4):303–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palinkas, L. A., J. Russell, M. A. Downs, and J. S. Petterson (1992) Ethnic Differences in Stress, Coping, and Depressive Symptoms After the Exxon Valdez Oil-Spill. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 180(5):287–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pastore José (1982) Inequality and Social Mobility in Brazil. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rezende, Fernando (1998) Brazilian Economy: Recent Developments and Future Prospects. International Affairs 74(3):563–575

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ribeiro, Darcy (1995) O Povo Brasileiro. São Paulo, Brazil: Companhia das Letras.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodspeth, Lars (1998) Distributive Models of Culture. American Anthropologist 100(1):55–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rohner, Ronald P. (1984) Toward a Conception of Culture for Cross-Cultural Research. Journal of Cross- Cultural Psychology 15(2):111–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romney, A. Kimball, and Carmella C. Moore (1998) Toward a Theory of Culture as Shared Cognitive Structures. Ethos 26(3):314– 337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romney, A. Kimball, Susan C. Weller, and William H. Batchelder (1986) Culture as Consensus: A Theory of Culture and Informant Accuracy. American Anthropologist 88(2):313–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenblum, L. A., and G. S. Paully (1987) Primate Models of Separation-Induced Depression. Psychiatric Clinics of North America 10(3):437–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, Norbert (2004) Culture and Cognition: Implications for Theory and Method. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sapir, Edward (1949) The Unconscious Patterning of Behavior in Society. InSelected Writings of Edward Sapir. David Mandelbaum, ed., pp. 544–559. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sapolsky, Robert (1999) Hormonal Correlates of Personality and Social Contexts. InHormones, Health, and Behavior. Catherine Panter-Brick and Carol M. Worthman, eds., pp. 18–46. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, John (1995) The Construction of Social Reality. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segall, Marshall (1984) More Than We Need to Know about Culture, but Are Afraid Not to Ask. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 15(2):153–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shore, Bradd (1991) Twice-Born, Once Conceived: Meaning Construction and Cultural Cognition. American Anthropologist 93(1):9–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shore, Bradd (1996) Culture in Mind. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silveira, Dartin Xavier da, and Miguel Roberto Jorge (2000) Escalade rastreamento populacional para depressão (CES-D) em populações clínica e não-clínica de adolescentes e adultos jovens. InEscalas de Avaliação Clínica em Psiquiatria and Psicofarmacologia. Clarice Gorenstein, Laura H. S. G. Andrade, and Antonio Waldo Zuardi, eds., pp. 125–138. São Paulo, Brasil: Lemos-Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sperber, Dan (1985) Anthropology and Psychology—Towards an Epidemiology of Representations. Man 20(1):73–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, Claudia, and Naomi Quinn (1997) A Cognitive Theory of Cultural Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tylor, Edward B. (1871) Primitive Society. Boston, MA: Estes & Lauriat.

    Google Scholar 

  • Veblen, Thorstein (1899) The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weller, Susan C., and A. Kimball Romney (1988) Systematic Data Collection. Vol. 10. Qualitative Research Methods Series. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a research grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS-0090193). Roy D’Andrade offered helpful comments on an early draft of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    William W. Dressler

  2. Department of Psychology, Paulista University, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

    Mauro C. Balieiro

  3. School of Nursing, University of São Paulo -Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

    Rosane P. Ribeiro

  4. Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo-Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

    José Ernesto Dos Santos

Authors
  1. William W. Dressler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mauro C. Balieiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rosane P. Ribeiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. José Ernesto Dos Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to William W. Dressler.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dressler, W.W., Balieiro, M.C., Ribeiro, R.P. et al. Cultural consonance and psychological distress: examining the associations in multiple cultural domains. Cult Med Psychiatry 31, 195–224 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-007-9046-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-007-9046-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation