Arterial blood pressure and individual modernization in a Mexican community

William W. Dressler, Alfonso Mata, Adolfo Chavez and Fernando E. Viteri

Social Science & Medicine, 1987, vol. 24, issue 8, 679-687

Abstract: The relationship between changes in individual behavior and arterial blood pressure was studied in a town in central Mexico. Two models relating modern behaviors and blood pressure were examined. The first, or 'accretion model' suggests that any adoption of modern behaviors results in stress and deleterious health change. The second, or 'discrepancy model', suggests that the adoption of modern behaviors is problematic only when the individual has limited access to economic resources. Empirical support for both models was found, but the best predictor of blood pressure was a single index of modern lifestyle, including acquisition of material culture and engaging in cosmopolitan behaviors. The effect of modern lifestyle on blood pressure was independent of the effects of age, sex, sodium intake, and body mass index. Overall the results are consistent with a model in which degree of community modernization, especially as it influences social class structure, is a boundary condition determining the relationship between the adoption of modern behaviors and health status.

Keywords: blood; pressure; modernization; lifestyle; Mexico (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1987
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0277-9536(87)90311-X
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:24:y:1987:i:8:p:679-687

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().