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L A Bennett

Publications and source records attributed to L A Bennett.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Anthropological perspectives on alcohol and drugs at the turn of the new millennium.

This introduction to the collection provides our thoughts on where alcohol and drug studies in anthropology are going as we enter the new millennium. After commenting briefly on each of the papers that comprise the rest of the volume, we discuss what we see as the most important and exciting issues in the future and give our views on what alcohol and drug studies can offer to medical anthropology, anthropology writ large, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research, and the realm of public policy and practical affairs. We call for a continued study by anthropologists of the whole array of pharmacologically active substances used by humans in different parts of the world, whether or not such studies are situated within medical anthropology. We note that many of these substances have received little attention from anthropologists to date, quite strikingly so in the cases of substances such as marijuana and methamphetamines. We emphasize that most scholars working in the anthropology of alcohol and drugs are concerned with the application of their findings to social problems, and we note that this has been especially true of research on alcoholic beverages and injection drugs. This leads us to a discussion of anthropology's involvement in public health intervention and policy work in a variety of settings. Such involvement is shown to have informed anthropological theory (notably political economic approaches) and to have enriched the methodological toolkits and forms of data analysis anthropologists use. Perhaps more importantly, we argue that such multidisciplinary involvement in applied work is most likely to eventuate in theoretical progress in alcohol and drug studies, since theory in the social sciences is not bound to singular disciplinary approaches. Thus we advocate for a "hybrid vigor" in this specialty area in the years ahead.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed2001

Influence of isometric exercise on blood flow and sweating in glabrous and nonglabrous human skin.

The distribution of the reflex effects of isometric exercise on cutaneous vasomotor and sudomotor function is not clear. We examined the effects of isometric exercise by different muscle masses on skin blood flow (SkBF) and sweat rate (SR) in nonglabrous skin and in glabrous skin. The latter contains arteriovenous anastomoses (AVAs), which cause large fluctuations in SkBF. SkBF was measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF) and reported as cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC; LDF/mean arterial pressure). SR was measured by capacitance hygrometry. LDF and SR were measured at the sole, palm, forearm, and ventral leg during separate bouts of isometric handgrip (IHG) and isometric leg extension (ILE). CVC and its standard deviation decreased significantly during IHG and ILE in the palm and sole (P < 0.05) but not in the forearm or leg (P > 0.05). Only palmar SR increased significantly during IHG and ILE (P < 0.05). We conclude that the major reflex influences of isometric exercise on the skin include AVAs and palmar sweat glands and that this is true for both arm and leg exercise.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

HLA class II gene and haplotype diversity in the population of the island of Hvar, Croatia.

The DRB1, DRB3, DRB5, DQA1 and DQB1 allele polymorphisms were analysed in 3 western and 3 eastern villages of the island of Hvar using PCR-SSOP method and 12th International Workshop primers and probes. Three DQB1 alleles (*0304, *0305, *0607) detected in the population of the island of Hvar (HP) have not yet been observed in general Croatian population (GCP). Significant differences were observed between two regions of Hvar for: a) DRB1*0701 allele (p < 0.001), b) DQA1*0201 allele (p < 0.01), and c) DRB1*0101-DQA1*0101-DQB1*0501 haplotypic association (p < 0.05). Two unusual haplotypic associations, which have not yet been described in general Croatian population (GCP), DRB1*0101-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0501 and DRB1*1501-DQA1 *0102-DQB1*0604 were observed in the population from the island of Hvar (HP). Measures of genetic kinship and genetic distances revealed isolation and clusterization which coincides with the known ethnohistorical, as well as biological and biocultural data obtained from a series of previous investigations. The five studied village subpopulations formed two clusters (East-West) to which the far eastern village (with the highest rii of 0.0407) joined later, thus indicating possible impact of historical immigrations from the mainland.

Croatia↗
PubMed1998

Alcoholic beverage consumption in India, Mexico, and Nigeria: a cross-cultural comparison.

Drinking practices vary substantially among different countries. An understanding of such differences can help researchers, clinicians, and policymakers develop prevention, diagnostic, and treatment measures as well as overall alcohol policies that are appropriate for a given country. Accordingly, researchers have conducted cross-cultural analyses of drinking patterns and practices. Three countries included in such analyses are India, Mexico, and Nigeria. These countries differ substantially in their ethnic and cultural characteristics, including the role that alcohol plays in daily life. To gain a better insight into the attitudes toward alcohol in these countries, researchers have analyzed the alcoholic beverage preferences, gender and age differences in alcohol consumption patterns, drinking contexts and drinking patterns, alcohol-related problems, approaches to prevention and treatment, and drinking indicators in each nation. These analyses demonstrate that no single definition of "normal" drinking, problem drinking, or alcohol dependence can apply equally to all countries or cultures.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1996

WHO cross-cultural applicability research on diagnosis and assessment of substance use disorders: an overview of methods and selected results.

The cross-cultural applicability of criteria for the diagnosis of substance use disorders and of instruments used for their assessment were studied in nine cultures. The qualitative and quantitative methods used in the study are described. Equivalents for English terms and concepts were found for all instrument items, diagnostic criteria, diagnoses and concepts, although often there was no single term equivalent to the English in the languages studied. Items assuming self-consciousness about feelings, and imputing causal relations, posed difficulties in several cultures. Single equivalent terms were lacking for some diagnostic criteria, and criteria were sometimes not readily differentiated from one another. Several criteria--narrowing of the drinking repertoire, time spent obtaining and using the drug, and tolerance for the drug--were less easy to use in cultures other than the United States. Thresholds for diagnosis used by clinicians often differed. In most cultures, clinicians were more likely to make a diagnosis of drug dependence than of alcohol dependence although behavioural signs were equivalent. The attitudes of societies to alcohol and drug use affects the use of criteria and the making of diagnoses.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1995

Somatoform disorders in different cultures--a mail questionnaire survey.

A mail questionnaire survey was organized by WHO to obtain expert opinion on the cross-cultural applicability of ICD-10 definitions of somatoform disorders. A response was obtained from 42 experts in 23 countries representing all five continents. The results showed that the ICD-10 concept of somatoform disorders was generally acceptable for use across cultures. However, a number of culture-specific symptoms, characteristics and terms that do not appear in ICD-10 were found to be common and important for the diagnosis of somatoform disorders in particular cultures. Pointing out the relative restrictiveness of ICD-10 criteria for somatization disorder, the experts emphasized the usefulness of having the more inclusive category of undifferentiated somatoform disorder. The survey was organized as the starting point of the WHO International Study of Somatoform Disorders. The major goal of the study is to improve understanding of the somatic presentation of psychological disorders in different cultures.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
PubMed1995

Accountability for alcoholism in American families.

Responsibility for alcoholism is examined within the context of families with an alcoholic parent. The perceptions of alcoholics and their spouses are discussed with respect to who or what is responsible for the etiology of alcoholism, the alcohol-related behaviors, and the consequences of the drinking in terms of the family's reaction to and the eventual resolution of the problem. In their attempt to understand the source of alcoholism and solutions to the problem, families draw upon different explanatory models of responsibility which frequently involve guilt, blame and shame. Brickman et al's theoretical framework for responsibility for helping and coping behaviors is applied to interview data from alcoholic families in the United States with respect to alcoholism. While these families typically do not hold the alcoholic responsible for the presence of the alcoholism in the first place, ultimately they do hold the alcoholic accountable for finding a solution to the alcoholism.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1993

Recent developments in alcoholism:family systems.

Over the past decade, research on alcohol and family systems has made notable advances, as reflected by major publications. Concepts elucidated in these writings encompass issues of (1) risk and vulnerability (resiliency, vulnerability, at-risk groups, mediating moderating risk factors, multifactorial determinants, and predisposing and precipitating factors); (2) family process (regulatory mechanisms, homeostasis, morphogenesis, systemic maturation, developmental distortion, family rituals, family identity, and deliberateness); (3) drinking context (sobriety-intoxication cycle, steady-episodic drinking, and alcohol expectancies); (4) alcohol controls (coercive controls, informal drinking controls, and formal controls); and (5) family response to alcoholism (codependence, denial, and definitional careers). In the following review of some of the major contributions to this research tradition, we pay particular attention to how alcohol researchers have refined many of these concepts in light of new empirical data.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Population structure of the Peljesac Peninsula, Yugoslavia.

We gathered serogenetic and parent-offspring migration data from 604 residents of 7 villages on the Peljesac peninsula in southern Yugoslavia. A variety of population genetics and multivariate statistics models and procedures give a concordant picture of the population structure of this region. Extensive migration is the dominant microevolutionary force patterning the variation seen today. Multiple population bottlenecks have also occurred over the past few centuries as a result of disease, famine, war, economic failure, and founder events, making it likely that genetic drift has been an important factor in the history of this population system.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Family, alcohol, and culture.

During the 1970s and 1980s a small but rich tradition of anthropological and sociological studies of family culture, cultural context, and alcohol has developed. Ideally, ethnographic analysis of a cultural group and in-depth holistic examination of family process are incorporated in such research. In conducting family, culture, and alcohol investigations, researchers are encouraged to reexamine some conceptual assumptions: (1) their working definition of culture; (2) their relative emphasis on family culture or cultural context; (3) their attention to socialization as an active process in the transmission of culture within and across generations; and (4) their adoption of a holistic and cross-generational perspective. To apply this line of research to preventive and intervention strategies, two questions are especially relevant: Why are particular alcohol traditions established and maintained within families? What incentives and constraints from the family's cultural context help create, preserve, and/or terminate particular drinking practices?

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Isolation by distance on the Island of Korcula: correlation analysis of distance measures.

Within the framework of holistic anthropological investigations of the rural populations on the Island of Korcula, various measures of biological distances between eight villages were estimated (Mahalanobis' D2 for anthropometric, physiological, and dermatoglyphic traits); socio-cultural similarities and distances were determined (kinship coefficient estimated from migrational data and Hemming similarity measure estimated from linguistic data). A matrix of Spearman's rank correlation coefficients among these measures demonstrated a pattern of interdependencies, which we analysed further by principal components analysis. The first component reflects the cumulative effect of different processes acting on the initial gene distribution over a long period of time; the second component represents initial population structure; and the third component reflects recent migration influences.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1988

Cognitive, behavioral, and emotional problems among school-age children of alcoholic parents.

Sixty-four children from 37 families with an alcoholic parent were compared with 80 children from 45 families that did not have an alcoholic parent on measures of intelligence, cognitive achievement, psychological and physical disorders, impulsivity-hyperactivity, social competence, learning problems, behavior problems, and self-esteem. On nine of 17 tests, the children of alcoholic parents scored less well than did the children of nonalcoholic parents, although both were within normal ranges. Factor analysis yielded significant differences between the two samples in emotional functioning and cognitive abilities and performance; marginally significant differences were found with respect to behavior problems.

Achievement↗
PubMed1987

Isolation by distance in Middle Dalmatia-Yugoslavia.

Parameters of Malécot's isolation-by-distance model are estimated for biological (anthropometric head and body dimensions, morphometric dimensions of metacarpal bones, quantitative and qualitative dermatoglyphic traits, and physiological/cardiorespiratory/variables) and linguistic distances and migrational kinship on the island of Korcula and the Peljesac peninsula in Middle Dalmatia, Croatia, Yugoslavia. Resulting parameters and the fit of the model are compared, for both regions, as well as with results of similar analysis in other parts of the world. The fit of the model is highly significant for migrational kinship and linguistic distances and less so for biological traits. Differences between these two populations, which live under basically similar ecological conditions, are explained by variation in biological and sociocultural history.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Couples at risk for transmission of alcoholism: protective influences.

A two-generation, sociocultural model of the transmission of alcoholism in families was operationalized and tested. Sixty-eight married children of alcoholic parents and their spouses were interviewed regarding dinner-time and holiday ritual practices in their families of origin, and heritage and ritual practices in the couples' current generation. Coders rated transcribed interviews along 14 theory-derived predictor variables, nine for the family of origin and five for the current nuclear family. Multiple regression analysis was applied in a two-step hierarchical method, with the dependent variable being transmission of alcoholism to the couple. The 14 predictor variables contributed significantly (p less than .01) to the couple's alcoholism outcome. A general theme of selective disengagement and reengagement for couples in families at risk for alcoholism recurrence is discussed.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1987

Historical processes and biological structure of the populations. Example from the Island of Korcula.

The importance of geographical distance as a determining factor of the population's biological and socio-cultural structure was studied on the island of Korcula, Yugoslavia. Migrational kinship coefficients, biological and linguistic distances were analysed in respect to isolation by distance, using Malecot's model. The fit of the model is highly significant for migrational kinship, linguistic, anthropometrical and physiological distances, while for morphometrical distances of metacarpal bones and dermatoglyphic distances, it is not adequate. The major conclusions reached through this analysis are in concordance with the known historical events in the entire region.

Anthropology, Physical↗