Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Biocultural Perspectives on Transitions, Stress, and Immune Response

在人类学研究中，压力的概念被用作考察个体如何应对环境或心理社会挑战的一种手段。研究压力及其对免疫功能影响的研究人员通常会检查个体对变化的环境条件或压力经历的反应。这个项目不是关注环境条件对适应性身体的压力，而是研究个人身体相对于相对固定的生物和文化类别发生变化的特定环境。这项研究的目的是进一步加深我们对人类在应激反应和免疫功能方面的变化的理解，这些变化与感知到的文化和谐程度和角色不协调程度有关。应激反应的变化，对免疫功能的影响，以及可能缓和这些反应的因素，将在使用外源性激素替代疗法(HRT)或其他程序的人的样本中进行检查。这项研究将集中在过渡过程的边缘或中间部分，在此过程中，个人可能会占据一个模棱两可的社会范畴。唾液皮质醇、唾液睾酮、爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒抗体、动态血压、心理和身体压力症状以及自尊水平将与所感知的社会类别的文化一致性进行检查。本课程将确定与压力症状、自尊水平和压力反应变化相关的生物、社会和心理因素。这项研究将在纽约市、波士顿和马萨诸塞州西部的农村地区进行，这将允许对生活在小城镇和城市中心的个人进行比较，这些城市的文化类别可能会有所不同。这项研究还将通过结合使用定量和定性方法以及通过使用应激反应的多种生理测量，在方法论上为人类学领域做出贡献。然后，这类模型可以应用于个人由于其社会身份发生变化(即年龄、疾病、怀孕和残疾)而经历极限时期的情况。这项研究将有助于理解对文化范畴的生理反应。这种类型的模型广泛适用于理解个体对其他生物文化变化的反应，如衰老、疾病、怀孕和残疾。

The concept of stress has been employed in anthropological research as a means to examine how individuals respond to environmental or psychosocial challenges. Researchers who study stress and its effects on immune function generally examine individual response to shifting environmental conditions or stressful experiences. Rather than focusing on the stress of environmental conditions acting on an adaptable body, this project will examine the particular circumstance wherein an individual's body is shifting in relation to relatively fixed biological and cultural categories. The purpose of this research is to further develop our understanding of human variation in stress response and immune function in relation to shifting degrees of perceived cultural consonance and role incongruity. Variation in stress response, effects on immune function, and factors that may moderate these responses, will be examined in a sample of people who are utilizing exogenous hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) or other procedures. This study will focus on the liminal or intermediary portion of the transition process during which time individuals may occupy an ambiguous social category. Levels of salivary cortisol, salivary testosterone, Epstein Barr Virus antibodies, ambulatory blood pressure, psychological and physical symptoms of stress, and levels of self-esteem will be examined in relation to cultural consonance with perceived social categories. Biological, social, and psychological factors associated with symptoms of stress, levels of self-esteem, and variation in stress response will be identified. The study will be carried out in New York City, Boston, and rural western Massachusetts, which will allow for comparisons to take place between individuals living in small towns and urban centers, where cultural categories may vary. This research will also contribute methodologically to the field of anthropology through its combined use of quantitative and qualitative approaches and through its use of multiple physiological measures of stress response. A model of this sort could then be applied to situations where individuals are experiencing periods of liminality as a consequence of shifts occurring in their social identities (i.e. aging, illness, pregnancy, and disability.) This research will contribute to understanding physiological responses to cultural categories. This type of model is broadly applicable to understanding how individuals react to other biocultural shifts such as aging, illness, pregnancy, and disability.