Dissertation Research: Health and Occupational Status in Reform Era China

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This project supports the dissertation research of an anthropology student from the university of Arizona. The student is examining how Chinese women deal with anxiety brought on by rapid modernization. Through interviewing a random sample of 100 women from a diverse set of occupational status in Yunnan province, the student will test the hypothesis that women with lower socio-economic status experience more anxiety due to uncertainties about employment security. The role of gender discrimination will also be analyzed as it affects women of different social classes. The research will study how these social problems are expressed through psychological symptoms and complaints, and how these symptoms impel people to purchase both traditional and western medicines. Methods include participant observation, formal interviews, the collection of daily health diaries, life histories, and collection of material from the popular media dealing with health, psychological and bodily symptoms. This research is important because like other communist countries undergoing reform, rapid change has been a source of tension in China. This project will advance our understanding of the interplay between job security and status and psychologically-related illnesses. Since rapid development has been shown to negatively impact on women's status in many developing countries, increased understanding of the health implications of status differences will be valuable to planners who are creating programs to ameliorate the problems associated with development.