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

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.09.005 Byline: Thomas W. McDade Keywords: Stress; Neuroendocrine biomarkers; Allostatic load; Culture; Social relations; Health; Taiwan; USA; Neuroendocrine allostatic load (NAL) 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. Author Affiliation: Department of Anthropology and Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health at the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, 1810 Hinman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208, USA