Dissertation Research: Health and Occupational Status in Reform Era China

这个项目支持亚利桑那大学人类学学生的论文研究。 这名学生正在研究中国女性如何应对快速现代化带来的焦虑。 通过对云南省100名来自不同职业地位的女性进行随机抽样采访，学生将检验这一假设，即社会经济地位较低的女性由于就业保障的不确定性而感到更多的焦虑。 还将分析性别歧视的作用，因为它影响到不同社会阶层的妇女。 本研究将探讨这些社会问题是如何通过心理症状和抱怨来表达的，以及这些症状是如何促使人们购买传统和西方药物的。 方法包括参与观察，正式访谈，收集每日健康日记，生活史，并从大众媒体收集材料处理健康，心理和身体症状。 这项研究很重要，因为像其他正在进行改革的共产主义国家一样，中国的快速变化一直是紧张局势的根源。 这个项目将促进我们对工作保障和地位以及心理相关疾病之间相互作用的理解。 在许多发展中国家，由于迅速发展对妇女的地位产生了不利影响，因此，对地位差异所涉健康问题的进一步了解，将对制定方案以改善与发展有关的问题的规划者很有价值。

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.