Ww. Dressler et al., Culture, socioeconomic status, and coronary heart disease risk factors in an African American community, J BEHAV MED, 21(6), 1998, pp. 527-544
In this paper cultural influences are examined in the relationship between
socioeconomic status and health. Cultural definitions of material lifestyle
s are investigated as a correlate of disease risk in an African American co
mmunity in the rural South. A new technique-called "cultural consensus anal
ysis"-is used to test for a cultural model of lifestyles indicative of succ
ess. Survey data are then used to operationalize the degree to which indivi
duals adhere in their own behavior to that cultural model; this measure is
referred to as "cultural consonance in lifestyle." Cultural consonance in l
ifestyle is more strongly associated with hypertension and smoking (but not
serum lipids) than are conventional measures of socioeconomic status (occu
pation, income, and education). These results suggest that the extent to wh
ich individuals are unable to live in accordance with cultural norms regard
ing lifestyles may contribute to the risk of coronary heart disease in the
African American community.