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Challenges and opportunities for integrative health research in the context of culture: A commentary on Gersten

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  • McDade, Thomas W.

Abstract

A new generation of research in population health is drawing on models and methods from the social and biomedical sciences to combine rich measurement of everyday contexts with objective measures of physiological function and health in field-based settings. We are at the beginning of an exciting era of discovery, and this commentary focuses on two questions of particular importance to comparative research. First, how do we use biological measures to define "health"? Second, how do we define and measure social context, particularly across cultural settings? Answers to these questions, as well as others addressed by scholars working at the intersection of the social and biomedical sciences, will ultimately lead to a better, more multidimensional understanding of human biology and health.

Suggested Citation

  • McDade, Thomas W., 2008. "Challenges and opportunities for integrative health research in the context of culture: A commentary on Gersten," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 520-524, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:3:p:520-524
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    1. Dressler, William W. & Balieiro, Mauro C. & Ribeiro, Rosane P. & Ernesto Dos Santos, José, 2005. "Cultural consonance and arterial blood pressure in urban Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 527-540, August.
    2. Gersten, Omer, 2008. "Neuroendocrine biomarkers, social relations, and the cumulative costs of stress in Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 507-519, February.
    3. Seeman, Teresa & Glei, Dana & Goldman, Noreen & Weinstein, Maxine & Singer, Burt & Lin, Yu-Hsuan, 2004. "Social relationships and allostatic load in Taiwanese elderly and near elderly," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(11), pages 2245-2257, December.
    4. Christopher Seplaki & Noreen Goldman & Maxine Weinstein & Yu-Hsuan Lin, 2006. "Measurement of cumulative physiological dysregulation in an older population," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 165-183, February.
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    1. Gersten, Omer, 2008. "The path traveled and the path ahead for the allostatic framework: A rejoinder on the framework's importance and the need for further work related to theory, data, and measurement," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 531-535, February.
    2. Panter-Brick, Catherine & Eggerman, Mark, 2018. "The field of medical anthropology in Social Science & Medicine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 233-239.

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