Individual-cultural transactions: Implications for the mental health of rural elders

Little is known of the ways that individual-cultural transactions affect th e mental health of older adults. particularly those residing in rural envir onments. Using race and ethnicity as primary cultural constructs, this arti cle describes why it is important to "unpark" the usual definers of culture and mental health to understand their multiple meanings for individuals ta rgeted by rural researchers and practitioners. Three psychological approach es of great promise for this effort are illustrated These include Phinney's focus on multiple meanings of ethnicity within the developing individual, Kleinman's ethnopsychiatric research examining how local cultures actively shape the experience and interpretation of illness (as distinct from diseas e), and Gutmann's theory of geropsychiatric pathology linking culturation a nd deculturation to healthy and degradative psychological outcomes among ol der adults. Implications of the work of these three researchers for rural m ental health researchers and practitioners are offered.