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A Cultural Analysis of Adolescent Psychopathology

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Barbara D. Miller

George Washington University

Behavior problems of adolescents have increasingly come to be examined as psychopathology. A medical/psychological view conflicts with a cultural interpretive approach. Material in the literature that bears on this topic is reviewed and analyzed critically. The goal is to illustrate how the concept of culture has been used to enhance understanding of adolescent psychopathology. Pertinent studies rely on differing methods, procedures, and conceptualizations of culture and psychopathology itself Epidemiologists handle culture abstractly and in a static way as a type of independent variable, and psychopathology is operationalized in terms of discreet disorders. Other researchers handle culture more broadly as systems of meaning and tend to examine descriptive aspects of behavior that reflect problems of adjustment. Advantages and disadvantages of the differing approaches are discussed. The needforstudies that balance methodologic rigor with interpretive sensitivity is emphasized. Suggestionsfor enhancing cultural sensitivity are presented.

Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 10, No. 2, 197-226 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/0743554895102002


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