Ryan Andrew Brown

Apportionment of Racial Diversity: A Review

It has become increasingly popular to theorize and assert significant genetic differences between arbitrary regional, ethnic, and racial groupings of humans. Beginning with Livingstone, Brace, and Newman is the early 1960s, biological anthropologists have shown that variation in human traits is non‐concordant along racial lines, as they are products of overlapping, dynamic selective pressures.

Companionable sleep : Social regulation of sleep and cosleeping in Egyptian families

This exploratory study examined family sleep patterns and quality in a setting of normative napping and cosleeping. Participants were 78 members of 16 families from 2 locales in Egypt (Cairo and a village). Each family member provided a history of sleeping arrangements, 1 week of continuous activity records, and details of each sleep event. Sleep records documented late-onset and dispersed sleep patterns with extensive cosleeping. Of recorded sleep events, 69% involved cosleeping, 24% included more than 1 cosleeper, and only 21% were solitary. Mid-late afternoon napping occurred on 31% of days, and night sleep onsets averaged after midnight. Age and gender structured sleep arrangements and, together with locale, extensively explained sleep behavior (onset, duration, total) and quality. Cosleepers had fewer night arousals, shorter and less variable night sleep duration, and less total sleep. Increased solitary sleep in adolescents and young adults was associated with increased sleep dysregulation, including exaggerated phase shifts in males and more nighttime arousals in females. Where normative, cosleeping may provide psychosensory stimuli that moderate arousal and stabilize sleep. Such moderating features may address important self-regulatory developmental needs during adolescence.

Are mental disorders more common in urban than rural areas of the United States

Urban vs. rural residence is commonly cited as a risk factor for depression and other mental disorders, but epidemiological evidence for this relationship in the US is inconclusive. We examined three consecutive annual samples (2009-2011) of adolescents (age 12-17, N = 55,583) and adults (age 18 and over, N = 116,459) from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) to compare the prevalence of major depression and other serious mental illness across four categories of urbanicity: (1) large metropolitan areas, (2) small metropolitan areas, (3) semi-rural areas, and (4) rural areas, with and without adjustment for other demographic risk factors. For adolescents, no association was observed between urbanicity and the prevalence of major depression, with or without statistical adjustments. For adults, no differences were found in the prevalence of major depression or serious mental illness between large metropolitan areas and rural areas, but the prevalence of both was slightly higher in the two intermediate urbanicity categories than in large metropolitan areas, with statistically significant odds ratios after adjustment ranging from 1.12 to 1.19. Contrary to expectations, the prevalence of mental disorders was not higher in the most urban compared with the most rural areas, suggesting that the move to identify mechanistic explanations for risk associated with the urban environment is premature. Evidence of slightly higher prevalence in small urban and semi-rural areas relative to large urban areas, reported for the first time, requires additional investigation.

Cultural and community determinants of subjective social status among Cherokee and White youth

Background. Subjective social status (SSS) is associated with physical and mental health in diverse samples. However, community, cultural, and ethnic influences on SSS are poorly understood, especially among rural and American Indian populations. Objective. We aimed to examine similarities and differences in how community poverty, family context, and life course attainment predict SSS among Cherokee and White youth in Appalachia. Design. We assessed culturally and developmentally appropriate aspects of life course attainment among 344 Cherokee and White youth (age 19–24) using the Life Trajectory Interview for Youth (Brown et al. 2006. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 15, 192–206). Combined with information regarding community context and family history, these data were used to examine common patterns and ethnic differences in community, family, and cultural influences on SSS. Results. Overall, both Cherokee and White youth rank their families lower in SSS than previously studied US youth. Family poverty during childhood and low parental education negatively influence family SSS, Cherokee youth rank higher on subjective socioeconomic status (SES) than Whites, as do participants in high poverty areas. However, White youth rank higher on peer SSS. Ethnographically generated items perform better than standard demographic markers in predicting SSS. Educational attainment is associated with peer SSS among Cherokee (but not White) youths. Conclusions. Cultural identity, community context, and local reference groups are crucial determinants of SSS. Both White and Cherokee youth in Appalachia exhibit SSS rankings consistent with socioeconomic and cultural marginalization. On a local scale, however, living in high poverty areas or minority communities may buffer individuals from some negative social comparisons regarding subjectively perceived SES. Meanwhile, social monitoring in small minority communities may constrain optimistic bias in assessments of peer popularity and status. Social ecology, family context, and individual attainment appear to exert distinctive influences on SSS across different cultural and ethnic groups.

Theory and method at the intersection of anthropology and cultural neuroscience

Anthropologists have become increasingly interested in embodiment-that is, the ways that socio-cultural factors influence the form, behavior and subjective experience of human bodies. At the same time, social cognitive neuroscience has begun to reveal the mechanisms of embodiment by investigating the neural underpinnings and consequences of social experience. Despite this overlap, the two fields have barely engaged one another. We suggest three interconnected domains of inquiry in which the intersection of neuroscience and anthropology can productively inform our understanding of the relationship between human brains and their socio-cultural contexts. These are: the social construction of emotion, cultural psychiatry, and the embodiment of ritual. We build on both current research findings in cultural neuroscience and ethnographic data on cultural differences in thought and behavior, to generate novel, ecologically informed hypotheses for future study. In addition, we lay out a specific suggestion for operationalizing insights from anthropology in the context of cultural neuroscience research. Specifically, we advocate the development of field studies that use portable measurement technologies to connect individual patterns of biological response with socio-cultural processes. We illustrate the potential of such an approach with data from a study of psychophysiology and religious devotion in Northeastern Brazil.

Moving from ethnography to epidemiology: lessons learned in Appalachia.

Background: Anthropologists are beginning to translate insights from ethnography into tools for population studies that assess the role of culture in human behavior, biology, and health. Aim: We describe several lessons learned in the creation and administration of an ethnographically-based instrument to assess the life course perspectives of Appalachian youth, the Life Trajectory Interview for Youth (LTI-Y). Then, we explore the utility of the LTI-Y in predicting depressive symptoms, controlling for prior depressive symptoms and severe negative life events throughout the life course. Subjects and methods: In a sample of 319 youths (190 White, 129 Cherokee), we tested the association between depressive symptoms and two domains of the LTI-Y – life course barriers and milestones. Longitudinal data on prior depressive symptoms and negative life events were included in the model. Results: The ethnographically-based scales of life course barriers and milestones were associated with unique variance in depressive symptoms, together accounting for 11% of the variance in this outcome. Conclusion: When creating ethnographically-based instruments, it is important to strike a balance between detailed, participant-driven procedures and the analytic needs of hypothesis testing. Ethnographically-based instruments have utility for predicting health outcomes in longitudinal studies.

Sleep budgets in a globalizing world: biocultural interactions influence sleep sufficiency among Egyptian families

Declines in self-reported sleep quotas with globalizing lifestyle changes have focused attention on their possible role in rising global health problems such as obesity or depression. Cultural factors that act across the life course and support sleep sufficiency have received scant attention, nor have the potential interactions of cultural and biological factors in age-related changes in sleep behavior been systematically investigated. This study examines the effects of cultural norms for napping and sleeping arrangements along with sleep schedules, age, and gender on sleep budgets among Egyptian households. Data were collected in 2000 from 16 households with 78 members aged 3-56 years at two sites in Egypt (Cairo and an agrarian village). Each participant provided one week of continuous activity records and details of each sleep event. Records showed that nighttime sleep onsets were late and highly variable. Napping was common and, along with wake time flexibility, played a key role in maintaining sleep sufficiency throughout the life course into later middle age. Cosleeping was prevalent and exhibited contrasting associations with reduced duration and sufficiency of both nocturnal and total sleep, and with earlier, more regular, and less disrupted sleep. Daily sleep quotas met published guidelines and showed age-related changes similar to existing reports, but differed in how they were achieved. Cultural norms organizing sleep practices by age and gender appear to tap their intrinsic biological properties as well. Moreover, flexibility in how sleep was achieved contributed to sleep sufficiency. The findings suggest how biocultural dynamics can play key roles in sleep patterns that sustain favorable sleep quotas from infancy onwards in populations pursuing globalizing contemporary lifestyles.

Integrating Motivational Interviewing and Traditional Practices to Address Alcohol and Drug Use Among Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Youth

American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) exhibit high levels of alcohol and drug (AOD) use and problems. Although approximately 70% of AI/ANs reside in urban areas, few culturally relevant AOD use programs targeting urban AI/AN youth exist. Furthermore, federally-funded studies focused on the integration of evidence-based treatments with AI/AN traditional practices are limited. The current study addresses a critical gap in the delivery of culturally appropriate AOD use programs for urban AI/AN youth, and outlines the development of a culturally tailored AOD program for urban AI/AN youth called Motivational Interviewing and Culture for Urban Native American Youth (MICUNAY). We conducted focus groups among urban AI/AN youth, providers, parents, and elders in two urban communities in northern and southern California aimed at 1) identifying challenges confronting urban AI/AN youth and 2) obtaining feedback on MICUNAY program content. Qualitative data were analyzed using Dedoose, a team-based qualitative and mixed methods analysis software platform. Findings highlight various challenges, including community stressors (e.g., gangs, violence), shortage of resources, cultural identity issues, and a high prevalence of AOD use within these urban communities. Regarding MICUNAY, urban AI/AN youth liked the collaborative nature of the motivational interviewing (MI) approach, especially with regard to eliciting their opinions and expressing their thoughts. Based on feedback from the youth, three AI/AN traditional practices (beading, AI/AN cooking, and prayer/sage ceremony) were chosen for the workshops. To our knowledge, MICUNAY is the first AOD use prevention intervention program for urban AI/AN youth that integrates evidence-based treatment with traditional practices. This program addresses an important gap in services for this underserved population.

Crystal methamphetamine use among American Indian and White youth in Appalachia: Social context, masculinity, and desistance

Rural areas and American Indian reservations are hotspots for the use of crystal methamphetamine (‘meth’) in the United States, yet there is little ethnographic data describing meth use in these areas. This study draws upon 3 years of ethnographic work conducted with American Indian and White youth in Appalachia during the height of the meth epidemic. First, I show how crystal meth filled a functional niche in the lives of many young men, alleviating boredom and anomie linked to recent socioeconomic changes and changing labor opportunities, and intersecting with local understandings of masculinity and forms of military identity. Here, ethnographic and interview data converge to illustrate how social role expectations, recent socioeconomic change, and meths pharmacological properties converge to create vulnerability to meth use in Appalachia. Next, I draw upon two American Indian narratives of desistance. These youth described recently severed social relationships and acute feelings of social isolation during the initiation of meth use. Both also described dramatic close calls with death that facilitated their eventual desistance from use, involving repaired social relationships and the establishment of new lives and hope. Comparisons with meth use in other populations and regions, including men who have sex with men in urban environments, suggest that similar motivations and contextual factors may influence meth use across diverse cultural and regional contexts. Recent interventions targeting the pathogenic aspects of masculine role socialization and ethnographic evidence on the role of social networks in desistance suggest both avenues and caveats for intervention.

Historical and life course timing of the male mortality disadvantage in Europe: epidemiologic transitions, evolution, and behavior.

Abstract This study employs vital statistics data from Sweden, England, Wales, France, and Spain to examine male:female mortality differentials from 1750 through 2000 and their interrelationship with epidemiological transitions. Across all ages and time periods, the largest relative mortality disadvantages are to young adult men. When crisis mortality from the two world wars is removed, we show that the mortality in this young male age group is about two to three times the level of female mortality across all countries sampled. In addition, we show that the timing of this stabilization in male mortality disadvantages occurs during the last half of the twentieth century, at the same point that our measure of epidemiological change also stabilizes at a new low level. The findings are consistent with an interdisciplinary theoretical model that links social, technological and epidemiological changes that occurred through the first half of the 20th century with the unmasking and accentuation of mortality disadvantages among young adult men.