BECOMING MODERN AFTER ALL THESE YEARS - SOCIAL-CHANGE AND MENTAL-HEALTH IN LATIN-AMERICA

This paper takes a critical standpoint, both theoretical and methodolo gical, to revisit Inkeles and Smith's hypothesis on the association be tween modernization and mental health. First it is proposed a critical evaluation of the premises of the conceptual treatment of the relatio nships between social change and mental health prevailing during the p ast two decades. Secondly, results from epidemiologic research on the psychological outcomes of social development in Latin America are revi ewed, emphasizing the methodological improvements which occurred durin g the past two decades. Selected findings of an epidemiological survey recently conducted in urban Brazil are then presented, focusing on a case-control analysis of the socio-economic correlates of individual m ental health. Finally, some of the implications of the new evidence co ncerning the social change and mental health hypothesis are discussed, as an attempt to interpret these findings in the light of recent deve lopments of theories on social change and health in the contemporary w orld.