Examines the motivation for achievement as a psychological factor that shapes economic development. Refuting arguments based on race, climate, or population growth, the book instead argues for cultural customs and motivations - especially the motivation for achievement - as the major catalysts of economic growth. Considering the Protestant Reformation, the rise of capitalism, parents' influences on sons, and folklore and children's stories as shaping cultural motivations for achievement, the book hypothesizes that a high level of achievement motivation precedes economic growth. This is supported through qualitative analysis of the achievement motive, as well as of other psychological factors - including entrepreneurial behavior and characteristics, and available sources of achievement in past and present highly achieving societies. It is the achievement motive - and not merely the profit motive or the desire for material gain - that has advanced societies economically. Consequently, individuals are not merely products of their environment, as many social scientists have asserted, but also creators of the environment, as they manipulate it in various ways in the search for achievement. Finally, a plan is hypothesized to accelerate economic growth in developing countries, by encouraging and supplementing their achievement motives through mobilizing the greater achievement resources of developed countries. The conclusion is not just that motivations shape economic progress, but that current influences on future people's motivations and values will determine economic growth in the long run. Thus, it is most beneficial for a society to concentrate its resources on creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and a strong ideological base for achievement. (CJC)

The Achieving Society

This article describes the development, reliability, and validity of the African American Acculturation Scale. This 74-item scale has good construct and concurrent validity. The eight subscales, assessing eight dimensions of African American culture, have high internal consistency reliability, and the scale as a whole has high split-half reliability. African Americans'scores on the scale were unrelated to social class, gender, and education. The needfor cross-validation of the scale andfor specific research projects using it are detailed.

The African American Acculturation Scale: Development, Reliability, and Validity

Objective A number of studies have documented that acculturation to western society is related to an increase in blood pressure (BP). Although there is evidence that higher socioeconomic status appears related to better cardiovascular health, increasing acculturation to western society appears related to worse cardiovascular health. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between acculturation and BP. Methods Literature searches yielded 125 relevant research manuscripts, which were coded by teams of two independent raters. This study was conducted in 2003 and 2004, and research databases such as MEDLINE and PsychINFO were searched through 2004. Measures of association (effect sizes) were extracted for both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) readings. Random effects models were used to analyze the resulting data. Results The overall effect sizes associated with acculturation were 0.28 for SBP and 0.30 for DBP, with increasing acculturation to western society related to higher BP. More acculturated individuals had an average of 4 mm Hg higher BP than less acculturated individuals, which is similar to the effect sizes of known risk factors for high BP such as diet and physical activity. The effects of acculturation on BP appear to be universal, with similar effect sizes found across all regions of the world. Change in BP due to acculturation was not related to body mass index (BMI) or cholesterol but was related to length of residence in the new culture, with the largest effect sizes seen on initial entry and then decreasing rapidly within the first few years. Sudden cultural changes, such as migration from rural to urban settings, resulted in the largest effect sizes, which finding supports the hypothesis that the stress of cultural change is important role in the acculturation effect. Conclusions Acculturation to western society is associated with higher BP, and the distress associated with cultural change appears to be more influential than changes in diet or physical activity. Future studies would benefit from investigating how cultural change affects health and examining whether some non-Western cultural values and practices are health protective.

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Acculturation to Western Society as a Risk Factor for High Blood Pressure: A Meta-Analytic Review

Current policy and research around type 2 diabetes (T2D) interventions largely invoke a behavioral model. We suggest that activation of the physiologic stress response (PSR) from chronic exposure to stressors, low socioeconomic status (SES), severe mental health problems, or aggressive behavior increases the risk of T2D. This article is a comprehensive review of the literature on the link between T2D and psychosocial factors focusing on prospective studies of the risk for developing diabetes. The review found an increased risk for T2D in people: exposed to stressful working conditions or traumatic events; with depression; with personality traits or mental health problems that put them in conflict with others; of low SES, either currently or in childhood; and in racial/ethnic minority populations, independent of current SES. This review suggests that T2D prevention research would be more effective if (a) the PSR to psychosocial factors (especially social disparities) was recognized and (b) intervention pro...

/pdf/stress-and-type-2-diabetes-a-review-of-how-stress-1xyakkezyq.pdf

Stress and Type 2 Diabetes: A Review of How Stress Contributes to the Development of Type 2 Diabetes

Opening the box: intrahousehold food allocation in rural Nepal.

The relationship between individual modernization and elevated arterial blood pressure was examined in a study in urban Brazil. We hypothesized that elevated blood pressure would result from the discrepancy between an individual's style of life and his or her economic resources; specifically, we suggested that when modern life-style acquisition exceeded economic resources, a circumstance referred to as “life-style stress,” blood pressure would be elevated. This factor was related to diastolic, but not systolic, blood pressure, independently of a variety of biologic, dietary, and sociocultural confounding factors. The perceived change associated with life events also predicted diastolic, but not systolic, blood pressure. Other predictors of diastolic blood pressure were calcium intake, fat intake, race, age, and the body mass index. We argue that sociocultural risk factors emerge in the modernization process as a result of social structural imbalances generated by economic development and represent independent risk factors for elevated arterial blood pressure.

Arterial Blood Pressure and Modernization in Brazil

Arterial blood pressure and individual modernization in a Mexican community.

Underlying this article is a recognition of the relationship between poverty and poor health and nutrition and a realization that poverty does not affect al/ the members of a household uniformly. W...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/156482658500700405

Nutrition and Health: Studying Health and Nutrition Behaviour by Examining Household Decision- Making, Intra-Household Resource Distribution, and the Role of Women in These Processes

La escasez de hierro es la deficiencia nutricia especifica mas comun en el mundo. En 2006, la prevalencia de anemia entre los ninos en Mexico fue de 37.8% en menores de 2 anos, 20.0% de 2 a 5 anos y 16.6% de 6 a 11 anos. Aunque la ingestion de hierro total en ninos de 1 a 4 anos es adecuada (≈ 6.2 mg/dia), la de hierro heminico es baja y la de inhibidores de la absorcion de hierro es muy alta, por lo que la biodisponibilidad general del hierro en la dieta es pobre (3.85%). Para tratar y prevenir la anemia se puede aumentar la ingestion de hierro biodisponible, mitigar sus perdidas, y aumentar su reserva mediante la ligadura tardia del cordon umbilical. La aplicacion de diversas estrategias requiere la accion concertada de diferentes instituciones y sectores gubernamentales, asi como de miembros activos de las comunidades, educadores, extensionistas, grupos de riesgo y sus familias, etc

/pdf/la-deficiencia-de-hierro-y-la-anemia-en-ninos-mexicanos-3jl1o8i4yh.pdf

Fernando E. Viteri

Papers

Arterial Blood Pressure and Modernization in Brazil

Arterial blood pressure and individual modernization in a Mexican community.

Nutrition and Health: Studying Health and Nutrition Behaviour by Examining Household Decision- Making, Intra-Household Resource Distribution, and the Role of Women in These Processes

La deficiencia de hierro y la anemia en niños mexicanos: Acciones para prevenirlas y corregirlas

La Deficiencia De Hierro Y La Anemia En Ninos Mexicanos