This project studies the influence of culture on individual adaptation through investigating cultural, social-psychological and dietary influences on individual differences in physiological and psychological adaptation. Individual differences in variables such as blood pressure, serum lipids, anxiety and depression have most often been attributed to individual-level factors such as diet or stressful experiences. This project will use contemporary culture theory and methods to examine how cultural models construct shared meanings, which in turn affect the behavior of individuals and their health status. The research hypothesizes that high cultural consonance, the degree to which individuals approximate shared cultural models, will be associated with better physiological and psychological adaptation, as measured by lower blood pressure and other variables associated with stress and distress. The research will be done in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, a community with a considerable amount of socio-cultural and dietary variability. The research will take place in four diverse neighborhoods in three stages: unstructured interviewing will be used to elicit cultural domains; then cultural consensus analysis will be used to test for shared knowledge; and finally data on individual psycho-biological adaptation will be collected from a survey sample. The research will contribute to our understanding of how individuals adapt in their cultural setting as well as advance our knowledge of this important region of the world.
