examine key questions that arise from a cross-cultural approach to the study of depression / begins with consideration of cultural variation in dysphoric affect and the import of such variation for universalist definitions of depressive disorder / examine cross-cultural evidence on somatic components of depression and explore the concept of somatization in relation to depression and the communication of distress / review the evidence of cross-cultural variation in depressive symptomatology this anthropological perspective is presented through examination of a series of theoretical, substantive, and methodological issues / review the social and cultural contexts within which depression originates, examining the role of gender, social class, family relations, migration, political violence, and social change cross-cultural aspects of depression / the cultural construction of emotion / the ethnopsychology of emotion / culture and depressive affect / somatization and depression / gender and depression / socioeconomic status and depression / depression among refugees and immigrants / depression and family factors / depression and social change / methodological problems in cross-cultural research on depression (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Over the past several decades, a variety of cross-cultural studies have been undertaken to explore the relationship of culture to schizophrenia (cf. Draguns, 1980; Kennedy, 1974; Sauna, 1980). Several investigators (e.g., Murphy, 1982, p. 78) have concluded that schizophrenia is “widely distributed around the world” and “takes a rather similar form in all the diverse societies in which it is found.” In light of these data, it may have seemed reasonable to assume that schizophrenia is not significantly influenced by sociocultural forces. However, in the wake of recent findings by the World Health Organization, such an assumption now appears unfounded. The authors wish to acknowledge the research projects and sources of funding upon which this chapter is based: “The Course of Schizophrenia among Mexican-Americans,” Marvin Karno, M. D., Principal Investigator, National Institute of Mental Health, MH-33502 and 39011; “Family Factors,” Christine Vaughn, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, recently reported upon by Vaughn et al. (1984); “Developmental Processes in Schizophrenic Disorders,” Keith Nuechterlein, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, MH-30911. Anglo-American data from the two latter projects were generously made available to Jenkins (1984), for which we are grateful.