THE COMMUNITY CULTURE SURVEY: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM A NEW APPROACH TO MEASUREMENT AND UNDERSTANDING HEALTH DISPARITIES.

The Community Culture Survey (CCS) was designed to advance the measurement of culture and its link to health by asking individuals to describe the attitudes and behaviors of people in the local community where they live. To assess preliminary validity, 130 respondents completed the CCS, a health survey, and demographic questions. Five subscales were derived from the CCS, 2 of which were correlated with health survey items. Residents living in neighborhoods described as higher in Social Responsibility and Friendliness were less likely to report experiencing bodily pain and more likely to report experiencing better quality of life. There were no differences based on demographics. While race or ethnicity is often used as a proxy for culture, the lack of correlation between this variable and community culture subscales supports the distinction between these constructs. The CCS has potential to advance understanding of the effect of community environment on health and disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]