The relationship between shared versus disparate notions of culture and health

文化如何塑造和强迫人类行为，遵守或偏离社会规定的规范会给健康带来什么后果？这项研究项目调查了坚持或背离文化规范的动机以及这些行为的幸福结果。研究表明，符合群体的期望，以及个人文化的规范和价值观，有助于构建社交网络、接受和幸福。相反，背离共同的文化价值观往往会带来压力，因为负面的社会反馈和缺乏归属感。然而，群体中的个体并不是同质的。相反，他们的行为受到内部(例如个人信仰)和外部(例如社会压力)动机力量的影响，并受到结构性限制(例如社会经济地位)的限制。这项研究涉及人类学家、心理学家和生物学家的国际合作，以及在人种学和生物标志物数据收集和分析方面对研究生的培训。这项研究利用人种学和认知人类学的方法来评估文化价值观被分享、内化和落实到行为中的方式。调查人员使用文化共识和文化和谐以及相关的方法来确定共同的文化规范和个人对这些价值观的坚持或背离。健康结果，特别是与心理社会压力相关的结果，通过心理健康调查以及血压和头发皮质醇浓度等生物标记物来衡量。这种健康结果的组合提供了对心理社会压力的急性和慢性测量。纵向研究设计评估文化行为和健康的变化，并提供对潜在因果关系的洞察。通过这样做，这项研究进一步加深了对文化如何塑造健康的生物文化理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

How does culture shape and compel human behaviors, and what are the health consequences of adherence or deviance with socially prescribed norms? This research project investigates the motivations for adhering to, or deviating from, cultural norms and the well-being outcomes of these behaviors. Research shows that conforming to group expectations, and the norms and values of one’s culture, facilitates the construction of social networks, acceptance, and well-being. Conversely, being deviant from shared cultural values is often stressful due to negative social feedback and lack of a sense of belonging. Yet, individuals within groups are not homogenous. Rather their behaviors are shaped by internal (e.g., personal beliefs) and external (e.g., social pressures) motivational forces, and limited by structural constraints (e.g., socioeconomic status). This research involves an international collaboration of anthropologists, psychologists, and biologists, and the training of graduate students, in ethnographic and biomarker data collection and analysis. It disseminates its findings broadly to academic and non-academic audiences.This research utilizes ethnographic and cognitive anthropological methods to evaluate ways by which culture values are shared, internalized, and enacted into behavior. Investigators employ cultural consensus and cultural consonance, and related approaches to identify shared cultural norms and individuals’ adherence to versus separation from such values. Health outcomes, particularly those associated with psychosocial stress, are measured through mental health surveys, as well as biomarkers such as blood pressure, and hair cortisol concentrations. This combination of health outcomes provides both acute and chronic measurements of psychosocial stress. A longitudinal research design evaluates changes in cultural behaviors and health and provides insight to potential causal associations. In doing so, this study furthers a biocultural understanding of how culture shapes health.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.