Cultural consonance and arterial blood pressure in urban Brazil

In previous research in Brazil, we tested the hypothesis that cultural consonance is associated with arterial blood pressure. Cultural consonance is the degree to which individuals are able to approximate in their own behaviors the prototypes for behavior encoded in shared cultural models. Individuals who had higher cultural consonance in the domains of lifestyle and social support had lower blood pressures. The aim of the current research was to replicate and extend these findings. First, a more extensive cultural domain analysis was carried out, improving the description of cultural models. Second, more sensitive measures of cultural consonance were developed. Third, data were collected in the same community studied previously. The following findings emerged: (a) cultural domain analysis (using a mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques) indicated that cultural models for these domains are widely shared within the community; (b) the associations of cultural consonance in these domains with arterial blood pressure were replicated; and, (c) the pattern of the associations differed slightly from that observed in earlier research. This pattern of associations can be understood in terms of macrosocial influences over the past ten years. The results support the importance of long-term fieldwork in anthropology. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A mão oculta: Estevam Marcolino : política e modernidade no interior paulista (1889-1914)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Comportamiento de mujeres y sus parejas referentes a la planificación familiar

Objective. To describe women behavior regarding birth control and analyze if such behavior has any cultural influence. Methodology. Qualitative study in which patients were women who were waiting for their family health program consult in three health units of the city Ilah Comprida in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Data were collected during October and November of 2007, the interview was used as source of information, subsequently they were subjected to the content analysis technique. Results. Women are responsible for birth control; they consider there are difficulties with birth control especially due to inefficient information about methods of contraception and family influence over this adopted behavior. Conclusion. Birth control is influenced by cultural models, moral, social and religious values related with the exercise of sexuality.

Por uma televisão cultural-educativa e pública: a TV Cultura de São Paulo, 1960-1974

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Currículo na educação infantil: implicações da teoria Histórico-Cultural

Pós-graduação em Educação - FFC