Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
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Social Science & Medicine
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/socscimed
How religious status shapes psychological well-being: Cultural
consonance as a measure of subcultural status among Brazilian
Pentecostals
H.J. François Dengah II
Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, Old Main Hill #0730, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-0730, USA
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 19 December 2013
Received in revised form
16 May 2014
Accepted 19 May 2014
Available online 20 May 2014
Research on subjective social status has long recognized that individuals occupy multiple social hierarchies, with socioeconomic status (SES) being but one. The issue, as such, has been to identify culturally
meaningful measures of social status. Through cognitive anthropological theory and methods, I show
that it is possible to identify multiple cultural models of “status,” and objectively measure an individual's
level of adherence, or consonance, with eachdeffectively placing them within the multidimensional
space of social hierarchies. Through a mixed qualitative and quantitative study of 118 Brazilian Pentecostals carried out from 2011 to 2012, I show that dominant and limitedly-distributed cultural models of
status operate simultaneously and concurrently in the lives of those who hold them. Importantly, each
marker of cultural status moderates the other's association with psychological well-being. I argue that
the importance of a given social hierarchy is framed by cultural values. For Brazilian Pentecostals, their
limitedly distributed model of religious status alters the influence of more dominant societal indicators
on psychological well-being. The interaction between religious and secular lifestyle statuses on psychological health is stronger than the association of SES, effectively explaining 51% of the variance. This
finding suggests that among some populations, limitedly distributed cultural models of status may be a
dominant force in shaping measures of well-being.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Brazil
Religion
Status
Stress
Mixed-methods
Cognitive anthropology
Cultural consensus
Cultural consonance
1. Introduction
Researchers in a variety of disciplines have long emphasized the
role that social status plays in influencing psychological and
physiological indicators of stress (Gallo and Matthews, 2003). This
finding is premised in the assertion that humans exist in a social
hierarchy, where one's status and stability in that position determines access to resources, available coping responses, and
exposure to stressors as a result of social living (Sapolsky, 2004).
Despite a century's worth of investigation, the various ways and
means by which “status” in human society translates into observable measures of well-being is still being understood (Adler and
Ostrove, 1999; Warren and Sydenstricker, 1916). Certainly, important strides have been made in understanding this relationship:
beginning with Emile Durkheim's (1951 [1897]) study of the
configuration of the individual and society in predicting suicide
rates; to the famous Whitehall study of British civil servants
(Marmot et al., 1978); and more recently with the roles subjective
E-mail address: [email protected].
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.05.028
0277-9536/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
status (Singh-Manoux et al., 2003) and social incongruence
(Dressler et al., 2007) have in shaping perceived status, we are
getting a more complete, if not complicated, picture of how social
positions within human society produce stress.
This research investigates how multiple (sub)cultural statuses
can be objectively measured simultaneously, and if certain social
hierarchies carry greater or lesser influence on psychological wellbeing than others. Influenced by the classic sociological research of
Weber (1958) and Bourdieu (1984), and more recent cognitive
anthropological research by Dressler (2000, 2005) and Boster et al.
(1987), I contend that status (displayed through the consumption
and acquisition of capital) is appraised not simply according to
individual psychologies (i.e., coping resources, dispositions), but
rather that it is meaningfully patterned at the cultural level of the
aggregate (i.e., shared values that place greater or lesser importance on particular forms of status). To understand the health
impact of multiple sociocultural statuses, I compare how the
psychological health of Brazilian Pentecostals is shaped by limitedly distributed cultural indicators of religious status, as well as
dominant cultural measures of the ideal lifestyle. More specifically,
I hypothesize:
H. François Dengah II / Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
H1: Brazilian Pentecostals' psychological well-being will be
influenced by dominant measures of social status (SES; consonance with cultural indicators of “a successful Brazilian”), as
well as limitedly distributed indicators of status afforded and
measured through their subcultural religious community.
H2: The influence of various measures of socio-cultural status on
psychological health will not be equal. Some cultural hierarchies
will exert a greater influence on well-being, and this will be
socially patterned on the level of the aggregate.
H3: The measures of socio-cultural status do not exist apart from
one another and will have an interaction effect on well-being.
Brazilian Pentecostals are known for valuing a separation from
worldly standards and influences, and endorsing a primary
religious identity (Burdick, 1998; Chesnut, 1997). As a result,
Pentecostals will place greater importance on their religious
status which will moderate secular status.
2. Social status and stratification
Social inequality is viewed as a driving factor of increasing
chronic psychosocial stress within industrialized populations
(Waldron et al., 1982). The Whitehall study (Marmot et al., 1978) on
British Civil Servants is widely considered the preeminent analysis
that demonstrates how SES influences levels of mortality and
morbidity. This study challenged the threshold model by showing
that health does not simply improve as one moves above the
poverty line, rather, health indices improve for every level of economic wealth. This SES-health gradient is among the most pervasive and well replicated in social health and epidemiological
research (Adler et al., 1999; Winkleby et al., 1992, 1999). In a review
of these SES-health studies, Adler and Ostrove (1999) found that
lower SES correlated with higher morbidity and mortality of many
diseases, including osteoarthritis, hypertension, cervical cancer,
diabetes and other chronic diseases. Similarly, Gallo and Matthews
(2003) found robust evidence that lower SES is associated with an
increase in psychological distress, including depression, anxiety,
hopelessness, and hostility.
Despite repeated evidence of a correlational association between economic status and well-being, the mechanisms behind the
SES-health gradient remain under investigation. Known influences
on health, including age, sex, body composition, health related
behaviors, access to resources, and medical access, only explain one
third of the SES-health gradient, leaving much of the correlation
unexplained (Pincus and Callahan, 1995; Wilkinson, 2000). Moreover, the influence of social hierarchies on health may be less about
absolute status and abundance of material resources than it is
about the experiences (and meanings) ascribed to one's perceived
status.
Singh-Manoux et al. (2003) investigated the role of subjective
socioeconomic status as a correlate of well-being. In an extension of
the original Whitehall study, the researchers surveyed 6981
London-based civil service employees. By measuring subjective
status as the rungs of a ladder representing gradations of social
hierarchy, Singh-Manoux et al. (2003) found that the subjective
social status (SSS) was as good or in some cases a better predictor of
health outcomes than traditional, objective measures of SES. The
mechanisms by which SSS shapes health remain unclear, though
they may be attributable to the same mechanisms proposed for
objective SES: differential access to material and coping resources,
and increased exposure to stressors that lead to a synergy of biological and psychological disease vulnerability (Singh-Manoux
et al., 2005). In what the authors would call “Status Syndrome,”
the subjective appraisal of relative abundance or deprivation of
19
status can shape the ability to live a lifestyle that is endorsed by
society.
Subjective social status' influence on health has received substantial attention in the past decade. Its ability to tap into one's
relativistic social position within the larger cultural framework has
led SSS to be viewed as a more accurate predictor of psychosocial
mediated health outcomes than objective measures of economic
status (Singh-Manoux et al., 2005; Subramanyam et al., 2012). It has
been hypothesized that among certain populations (e.g., homogenous incomes and material wealth, low levels of absolute resource
deprivation), objective indicators of economic status have more
distal influence on health patterns (Sweet, 2011). Instead, SSS and
levels of relative deprivation are hypothesized to be linked to patterns of chronic disease rates, due to the psychosocial consequences
of having higher or lower status than one's peers (AdjayeGbewonyo and Kawachi, 2012; Wilkinson and Pickett, 2007).
Objective economic resources (i.e., money) thus provide the raw
resources to consume symbolic and cultural capital, which are the
driving factors of SSS and associated health outcomes
(Subramanyam et al., 2012; Sweet, 2010, 2011).
The discovery that SSS is a more accurate predictor of health
outcomes has enormous implications: what are individuals basing
the appraisal of their social ranking on? Singh-Manoux et al. (2003)
found that traditional indicator of SES, such as education, job
prestige, and income were largely correlated with SSS, though they
accounted for less than half of the variance. Similarly, more abstract
measures such as “general life satisfaction” and “satisfaction with
standard of living” were significantly correlated with subjective
status, but still failed to completely account for what SSS was
actually measuring. Subjective status, according to the study's authors, is seen to represent a “cognitive averaging” of various social
indicators of status, taking into account not only current markers of
rank, but past achievements and future goals as well. In other
words, not all indicators of status are economically based.
This last point is not so different from what Bourdieu (1984)
argued in Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste.
Status, in his formulation, is the aggregate of the “total structure of
assets” that may or may not be symmetrically combined with one
another (Bourdieu, 1984: 404). The signs, practices, and habits (i.e.,
habitus) of classesdor what Weber (1958: 187) called the “style of
life”dcreates places within social space for individuals to occupy
and differentiate from one another. While some markers of status
are valued across (many) intra-societal boundaries (e.g., SES),
others are confined to specific subgroups (e.g., what constitutes an
ideal Pentecostal may not be valued among Catholics). However, as
Bourdieu pointed out, practices and tastes in one domain cannot be
considered independently from the whole life. That is, the aggregate of our various ranks; the combination of our signs, practices,
and tastes; and the social contexts in which they are appraised and
judged are what constitutes our “class” in any given situation. Thus,
the burden of understanding how human social rank shapes wellbeing must consider and compare the multiple cultural signs of
statuses.
A number of studies have examined the impact of multiple, and
often, incongruent signs of status. Dressler's (1993) study of an
Alabama African-American community looked at the interaction of
middle-class consumer status, and the symbolic status of skin color
on health. Results showed that the phenotypically darkest AfricanAmericans, who had high levels of middle-class lifestyle (i.e., the
most socially incongruent) had significantly higher systolic and
diastolic blood pressures than those of ‘commensurate’ skin color/
lifestyle measures. Dressler (1993: 338) suggests that the mechanism behind this correlation is that such status incongruence leads
to “frequent frustrating social interactions, interactions in which he
or she is not treated in a manner commensurate with the level of
20
H. François Dengah II / Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
social status claimed.” As a result, these individuals experience the
health effects of chronic psychosocial stress. Similarly, McDade's
(2002) research in Samoa observed that incongruence between
modern and traditional matai status of household heads influences
the health of family members, independent of SES. Most recently,
Sweet (2010) found that status inconsistency between SES and the
cultural model of teenager status resulted in higher systolic and
diastolic blood pressure among an urban African-American sample.
Similar research has found that incongruence between markers of
symbolic status results in decreased well-being among a number of
populations, including children (maternal business and marital
status) (Decaro and Worthman, 2008), Puerto Ricans (skin color
and SES) (Gravlee et al., 2005), and internet gamers (“real life” and
“virtual” success models) (Snodgrass et al., 2013).
The majority of these aforementioned studies found evidence of
cross-over interactions. That is, high levels on one measure of status
and low levels on another result in higher psychological and
physiological distress, whereas individuals with congruent statuses
(even matching low statuses) have relatively better measures of
health. While these repeated findings do likely represent a real
cultural-cum-cognitive dissonance between subjective statuses,
other configurations of status interactions and health are possible.
This paper examines the ways by which limitedly distributed (i.e.,
subcultural) status can reframe the interpretation and thus the
health effect of more widely distributed measures of subjective
status, resulting in a particular interaction of statuses and mental
health.
3. Research setting
The data discussed here were collected between 2011 and 2012
in a study that received approval from the University of Alabama
Institutional Review Board. This research was carried out within the
~o Preto located in the Brazilian state of Sa
~o Paulo.
city of Ribeira
~o Preto has
Originally founded in the late 19th century, Ribeira
developed from an agricultural market center to one of the most
affluent cities in Brazil, known for its financial and health care industries. Home to approximately 600,000 people, the city has a
wide range of socioeconomic variation, as evident in the dramatic
discrepancies of wealth within and between the various neighborhoods (IBGE, 2010). As a result of socio-economic inequalities,
~o Preto is 0.45dthe same as the megacity
the Gini index for Ribeira
~o Paulo, though lower than that of the nation (0.54).
of Sa
In general, Pentecostalism is known for its literal reading of
scripture, strict prohibitions against alcohol and tobacco use, and
the incorporation of Apostolic spiritual gifts during worship
(Robbins, 2004). These spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, described in
Chapter 2 of the Biblical book Acts, take the form of glossolalia
(speaking in tongues), prophecy, interpretation (of tongues or
prophecies), spiritual healing, and exorcisms. The public signaling
or expression of these gifts marks an acolyte's place within the
congregation and solidifies his/her religious identity in relation to
others (Sosis, 2006). The ideal characteristics and frequencies of
these signals vary by denomination. Other than doctrinal emphasis,
Brazilian Pentecostals differentiate themselves from other religious
traditions through an essentialized religious identity (Pentecostals
refer to one another as crentes, literally “believers,” regardless of
denomination) and a conscious separation from important secular
cultural institutions such as Carnaval, the samba (and dancing in
general), futebol (soccer), and [women's] fashion. In doing so,
crentes create cultural boundaries that enforce an essential identity
that is positioned at odds with key modes of “Brazilian-ness”
(Burdick, 1998; Chesnut, 1997; Mariz, 1994; in Latin America:
Brusco, 1995; Smilde, 2007).
Two well established Pentecostal denominations, the Assembl
eia
de Deus (Assembly of God, AD) and the Igreja Universal do Reino de
Deus (Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, IURD), were chosen
for this research. The AD is theologically more sectarian than the
IURD, advocating a greater separation between their faith and the
secular world. The AD also places greater emphasis on the signaling
behavior of glossolalia for proof of “baptism in the Spirit.” The IURD
is the more antagonistic of the two, actively incorporating the
spirits and sermons critical
exorcism of Umbanda and Candomble
of Catholicism. Their use of Prosperity Theology makes the church
in some ways more secular because they incorporate neo-liberal
capitalist language and view material wealth as a sign of divine
favor. The congregations chosen for this study are located within or
very near the city center, and are the main meeting places within
the city for their respective denominations.
4. Methods
4.1. Cultural consensus
Identifying, modeling, and measuring statuses in other sociocultural contexts, particularly among respondents who do not
share a similar cultural background as the researcher, requires a
unique methodological and theoretical approach. Cognitive anthropology, and specifically cultural consensus and cultural
consonance, allows researchers to objectively measure cultural
status in a variety of domains. Status within a cultural system can
be operationalized by the degree to which one adheres to the expectations and demands of a society, which is displayed through
behaviors and accumulated symbolic and cultural capital. Cultural
consensus analysis (CCA) is a methodological and theoretical
approach developed by Romney et al. (1986) that measures the
amount of inter-informant agreement regarding aspects of a given
cultural domain. Through factor analysis, CCA quantifies an individual's “cultural competence” by evaluating the degree to which
their responses match that of the aggregate. If enough sharing
between informants is present, then it is possible to estimate the
most likely agreed upon responses for a given domain. That is, CCA
provides a “cultural model” that would be similar to that held by a
reasonably competent member of the culture (see Weller, 2007).
Cultural consonance, developed by William Dressler (2000), is
the natural extension of CCA, and provides a means of linking the
behaviors of an individual with the most widely shared expectations of the group. In effect, the shared cultural model as identified
by CCA becomes a standard for “cultural status” within a given
domain, and respondents are evaluated by how well their own
tastes and behaviors match that of the culturally agreed upon
model. Like other measures of status, being consonant within a
given cultural domain has been repeatedly associated with both
positive psychological and physiological health indices (see
Dressler et al., 1996, 2007; Reyes-García et al., 2010; Snodgrass
et al., 2013; Sweet, 2010).
An early research phase utilized CCA to identify and describe the
model of the “ideal Pentecostal lifestyle” among respondents from
both congregations. The details of this first phase are reported
elsewhere (Dengah, 2013). Briefly, 32 informants split equally between the two congregations free-listed all the items necessary or
indicative of the ideal Pentecostal lifestyle. The most frequently
listed terms were used to populate a cultural model of what constitutes A Vida Completa (the Complete Life). Thirty-eight additional
informants (16 from each congregation) then rank-ordered 39
terms in order of most to least important for achieving A Vida
Completa. CCA analyzed respondents' responses for common
ranking patterns. The results show that Pentecostals, regardless of
denomination, conceive of the cultural domain in statistically
H. François Dengah II / Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
similar ways. This supports the hypothesis that there is a common
cultural model that frames the beliefs, behaviors, and goals of the
ideal Brazilian Pentecostal.
The ideal Pentecostal lifestyle extends far beyond the pews and
altars of the church; faithful Pentecostals not only develop a relationship with God, but they use their faith to carve out an identity
distinct from dominant society, and to improve their personal and
material well-being. That is, the faith of crentes informs behaviors
and understandings across cultural spheres (Burdick, 1993; Smilde,
2007). For example, informants from both congregations mention
the importance of a loving family “who have accepted Christ into
their hearts; ” friends are also important, but especially those “who
have been saved and serve as righteous role models.” The fact that A
Vida Completa is a widely encompassing domain is not dissimilar to
David Smilde's (2007) research of Columbian Pentecostals. Smilde
found that Pentecostals view improved interpersonal relations and
resource security as an explicitly religious project that fuels both
conversion and continued participation. This is also comparable to
the results of John Burdick's (1998) study of women and race in
Brazil, which showed how racial and gender identities are subsumed by religious identities. In many ways, the Pentecostal
identity transcends other social characteristics and creates a similar
model of personhood regardless of economic status, race, age, or
gender (see also Brusco, 1995). The similarities of respondents' freelists, as well as the construction of the A Vida Completa domain,
support the notion that they are, first and foremost, crentes and that
other indicators of identity and status are then reinterpreted
through the religious lens.
4.2. Social survey: cultural consonance
A convenient quota sampling frame was used to recruit 118 individuals from two Pentecostal churches located within the city
~o Preto. Individuals were chosen to represent the
center of Ribeira
age and sex distribution of Pentecostals in the state of S~
ao Paulo
based on the most recently available census data (59% female, mean
age 39 ± 15 (s.d.); IBGE, 2000) (see Table 1), as well as their “core”
or “elite” status within the community (see William, 1984[1974]). It
was reasoned that such entrenched members of the community
would share a common perception of the ideal religious lifestyle, as
compared to a neophyte or backslider, which is a necessary condition for cultural consensus and consonance approaches. Comparable sample sizes have been successfully used in other 2-stage
cultural consensus/consonance research (e.g., Decaro and
Worthman, 2008; Gravlee et al., 2005; Sweet, 2010). After finding
consensus for a single, shared model of the ideal religious lifestyle
in a previous research phase (Dengah, 2013), respondents were
asked the degree to which their own behaviors approximate
important characteristics of the ideal Pentecostal lifestyle model.
The religious consonance scale is comprised of items found to be
most “necessary” for the ideal Pentecostal lifestyle, as determined
21
by CCA. From the original 39 items tested for domain analysis, 27
items make up the religious consonance scale. Several items are
combined given their similar etiology. For example, the prohibitions against smoking, drinking drugs, and extra-marital sexual
relations are combined within the more culturally meaningful
category of “treating the body like God's temple.” Likewise, feeling
“happiness” and “peace” in one's life was combined into a single
category given their experiential similarities. Sixteen of the items
measure general dispositions or conditions along a 4-item Likertagreement scale (e.g., “I have faith that God will resolve all my
problems,” “I have been liberated from all the demons in my life”).
Eight items elicited a frequency response of certain behaviors (e.g.,
“reading the bible,” “being baptized in the Spirit,” “evangelizing to
others”). Three items measured the frequency of church attendance, perceived activity within the church community, and the
perceived strength of testimony/faith in God. The items hold
together well as a single scale with an acceptable internal reliability
(Cronbach's Alpha of 0.84.) (see Table 2).
To measure secular consonance, this research uses models of
Brazilian material lifestyle success and the ideal family. Both of
these cultural consonance measures were developed by Dressler
~o Preto, Brazil. Culand his colleagues among residents of Ribeira
tural consonance in material lifestyle is composed of 11 items
deemed “very important” for having a good life. Study participants
responded by affirming or denying ownership of items (e.g., car,
oven, television, sofa, telephone). This scale has been shown to be
highly correlated with psychological and physiological stress in a
number of studies (Dressler et al., 1998; Dressler and Bindon, 2000).
Cultural consonance in family life is composed of 18 items assessed
through a 4-point agreement Likert-response scale. This scale has
been shown to have acceptable reliability (Cronbach's alpha ¼ 0.88)
in previous studies (Balieiro et al., 2011). The magnitude of the
associations of these measures of cultural consonance with
outcome variables will be compared to the magnitude of the associations of religious consonance with outcome variables. A single
principal component accounts for 65.5 percent of the shared variance and this score is used as the measure of Generalized Secular
Consonance. An interaction term was created by centering and
multiplying Generalized Secular Consonance and Religious
Consonance terms together (see Cohen et al., 2003).
4.3. Measuring well-being
Two psychological health outcomes serve as the primary
dependent variable: Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (Cohen
et al., 1983) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression
scale (CES-D) (Radloff, 1977). This study uses a Portuguese translation of the 10-item PSS which has been widely used and repeatedly shown to be reliable with Cronbach's alpha coefficients
averaging about 0.8 (Dressler et al., 1998; Reis et al., 2010). The CESD is comprised of 20 items that elicits frequency of depressive
Table 1
Sample characteristics; means (s.d.) unless otherwise noted.
AD
Number of respondents
Age (range, s.d.)
Gender: % female
Socioeconomic status**
Social support
Religious consonance**
Secular consonance**
Psychological distress**
** ¼ p < 0.01 (one-way ANOVA).
62
35.77
58
0.26
2.34
0.36
0.23
0.25
IURD
(18e76, ±14.8)
(±0.97)
(±1.09)
(±0.71)
(±0.87)
(±0.89)
56
36.71
57
0.29
2.43
0.40
0.25
0.28
Pentecostal
(18e76, ±15.29)
(±0.96)
(±1.22)
(±1.12)
(±1.08)
(±1.05)
118
36.22
58
0
2.38
0
0
0
(18e76, ±14.98)
(±1)
(±1.15)
(±1)
(±1)
(±1)
22
H. François Dengah II / Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
Table 2
Scale of religious cultural consonance.
Item
Item
meanb,c
Item-total
correlation
I
I
I
I
I
2.74
2.85
2.81
2.71
2.81
0.12
0.26
0.37
0.54
0.42
1.46
0.48
2.64
0.29
1.93
2.47
2.03
0.20
0.47
0.35
2.41
1.78
2.66
1.50
0.31
0.16
0.35
0.28
1.64
0.16
1.98
0.47
1.68
2.17
1.67
1.70
2.47
2.36
1.63
0.57
0.51
0.50
0.64
0.24
0.35
0.46
1.64
1.98
2.02
0.42
0.49
0.50
1.42
0.49
was baptized by immersion in water.
am saved by Christ.
am a God-fearing Christian.
put God before all the other things in my life.
treat my body like a temple of God, avoiding
things spiritually and physically damaging as
drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.
Unlike Christ, sometimes I have trouble loving
my neighbor.a
I have faith that God will resolve all the problems
in my life.
Members of my family completely love each other.
I always pay my tithe in full.
I do not believe that success and financial prosperity
are part of God's plan.a
I feel a deep sense of peace and harmony in my life.
All members of my family are saved by Christ.
I feel that I am completely free from demons in my life.
I like to consume movies, television, music,
and other things considered “worldly”
and do not directly strengthen my
relationship with God.a
I'm happy with having only enough prosperity
to live a simple, but comfortable lifestyle.a
Generally, I do not consider myself a humble person.a
Weekly frequency of:
d Experiencing baptism in the Holy Spirit.
d Reading and studying the Bible.
d Giving offerings and sacrifices to the church.
d Evangelizing to others about the faith.
d Praying to God for blessings of health and healing.
d Praying to God for blessings of prosperity.
d Doing “God's work” such as volunteering time
and services to the church.
d Studying for personal development.
d Church attendance.
How active are you considered in your
church community?d
What is the strength of your testimony?e
principal component of several measures: an occupational ranking
developed in Brazil codes the social prestige of a variety of occupations from low prestige to high prestige (Pastore, 1982); the
number of years of education; and the monthly income of both the
household and household head. These three variables load on a
single principal component that accounts for 61 percent of the
shared variation.
5. Results
a
These items were reversed in direction prior to scoring.
b
Responses for items 1e16 ranged from completely disagree (0) to completely
agree (3).
c
Responses for items 17e25 ranged from never (0), to almost everyday (3).
d
This item was measured from not active at all (0) to very active (3).
e
This item was measured from not strong at all (0) to very strong (3).
symptomatology. This measure is also widely used in Brazil and has
shown repeatedly to have high internal consistently and validity
(da Silveira and Jorge, 2002). Stress and depression are highly
correlated with one another and have been shown to be comorbid
indicators of more generalized psychological distress (Hammen,
2005). Therefore, multivariate analysis utilizes a generalized measure of psychological health. Through principal components analysis, an overall measure of psychological health is created from
these two psychological scales; Generalized Psychological Distress
shares 79.5 percent of the combined variance of PSS and CES-D
measures.
Multiple ordinary least squares regressions test for significant
effects of the independent variables (cultural consonance) on the
outcome variable (psychological distress) while controlling for
known confounders (see Table 3). The magnitude of the association
is evaluated through beta (b) weights, also known as the standardized slope of the regression of a particular independent variable on the dependent variable. Model 1 shows that social support
is associated with lower psychological distress (b ¼ 0.31, p < 0.01).
Model 2 shows that denomination is significantly associated with
psychological distress: the AD exhibit higher levels (b ¼ 0.25,
p < 0.01). The introduction of generalized secular consonance in
Model 3 does not change the influence of denomination and social
support. The measure of secular consonance itself is negatively
associated with psychological distress (b ¼ 0.27, p < 0.01), which
supports the earlier findings of Dressler et al. (1998). In Model 4, the
introduction of religious cultural consonance removes the explanatory power of denomination and social support, and diminishes
but does not eliminate the association of generalized cultural
consonance with psychological health (b ¼ 0.18, p < 0.05). Religious
consonance is by far the most powerful predictor variable in the
model (b ¼ 0.63, p < 0.001), accounting for 29 percent of additional variance for a total model R-squared of 0.48. Finally, Model 5
tests hypothesis three's assertion that these sociocultural status
systems do not exist independently from one another but rather
exist synergistically. Indeed, the regression model shows evidence
of a moderately strong and significant (b ¼ 0.15, p < 0.05) interaction of religious consonance and secular consonance on psychological well-being. No collinearity problems were detected in
any of the models.
Fig. 1 graphs the interaction effect according to the standardized
coefficients of the linear regression. The effect of religious and
secular consonance on health results in a “fan-shaped” interaction.
This can be written in the following equation, where SC denotes
secular consonance and RC represents religious consonance:
Psychological Distress ¼ 0:17 SC þ 0:65 RC
þ 0:15ðRC SCÞ þ 0:2
The interaction shows that religious consonance modifies the
effect of secular consonance on psychological distress. Informants
Table 3
Regression models of generalized psychological distress (n ¼ 118).
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5
4.4. Measuring covariates
Standard covariates of health and stress were measured. Social
support was measured by The Single Item Measure of Social Support (Blake and McKay, 1986). This measure has been strongly
associated with more encompassing social support measures and is
correlated with morbidity (Blake and McKay, 1986). Additional
covariates of age, sex, and socio-economic status were gathered
from informants. Socio-economic status was measured using the
Standardized coefficients (beta)
Age
0.06
0.06
Gender (Female ¼ 1)
0.00
0.00
Socioeconomic status
0.09
0.01
Social support
0.31** 0.28**
Denomination (AD ¼ 1)
0.25**
Secular cultural consonance
Religious consonance
Religious secular consonance
R2
0.09*
0.14**
*** ¼ p < 0.001, ** ¼ p < 0.01, * ¼ p < 0.05.
0.08
0.03
0.04
0.03
0.11
0.16
0.22* 0.08
0.29**
0.02
0.27** 0.18*
0.63***
0.19***
0.02
0.03
0.16
0.09
0.00
0.17*
0.65***
0.15*
0.48*** 0.51***
H. François Dengah II / Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
Fig. 1. Interaction of religious consonance and secular consonance in relation to psychological distress.
with low religious consonance experience similar levels of psychological distress, regardless of their level of generalized secular
consonance. An individual with a religious consonance score that
is 1 s.d. will have psychological distress approximately 0.65 s.d.
higher than average, no matter their level of generalized secular
consonance. That is, the difference of psychological health between
very high secular consonance and very low secular consonance are
negligible for those with low religious consonance. As the level of
religious consonance increases, well-being improves. However,
those with higher combined secular consonance (1s.d.) and religious consonance (1 s.d.) have the fewest symptoms of psychological distress (1 s.d.). Those with lower levels of secular
consonance still experience therapeutic effects of high religious
consonance, only at significantly lower levels (~0 s.d.).
Finally, a brief discussion of denomination, race, and gender is
warranted. The IURD subsample report higher levels of religious
consonance and lower levels of psychological distress than their AD
counterparts. Yet, analyses of clustered and nested regressions
show no significant interaction effect of denomination with secular
and religious consonance: there were no interactions of denomination and religious consonance; denomination and secular
consonance; or denomination, religious and secular consonance in
relation to psychological distress; i.e., the relationship between
religious consonance and well-being is not a spurious association
shaped by church affiliation. The reason for these divergent scores
can be understood as differential doctrinal emphasis towards
admitting to religious dissonance as well as psychological distress.
Despite these initial congregational differences, the regression
models show that religious consonance and the interaction of
religious and secular consonance shape patterns of psychological
well-being in similar ways, regardless of membership in the AD or
IURD congregation. Race and gender were not significantly correlated with psychological distress or consonance levels. This lack of
association is unsurprising given the gender (e.g., domestication of
machismo, female empowerment through the Holy Spirit) and
racial (e.g., deemphasizing racial identity, fluid racial categories)
dynamics that are characteristic of Brazilian Pentecostal communities (see Brusco, 1995; Chesnut, 1997; Mariz, 1994).
6. Discussion
These data provide partial support for the first hypothesis: both
secular consonance and religious consonance were predictive of
increased well-being; SES, however, was not significantly associated with generalized psychological distress. The data also support
the second hypothesis: religious consonance is more predictive of
23
psychological health than secular consonance; as well as the third
hypothesis: indicators of sociocultural status operate simultaneously in influencing the psychological well-being of respondents.
As a result, these data support the assertion that religious and
secular cultural logics, worldviews, and cultural models are
pluralistic, operating simultaneously and interactively in the lives
of those who hold them.
As the interaction effect shows, members who have low levels of
religious consonance have higher levels of psychological distress,
no matter their level of consonance with secular lifestyle status. The
Pentecostals who occupy this space are active in the church yet they
do not meet all of the criteria of the ideal religious lifestyle. The
reasons varydan inability to experience baptism in the Spirit; being penurious with tithes and sacrifices; not consistently following
behavioral taboos; or an inability to convert members of their
family. The lack of religious consonance in their lives leads to
increased stress and depression. Even within the context of high
secular lifestyle status, the religious community views such prosperity at best, temporary, and at worst, sinful, effectively muting
any positive psychological benefit. In short, expected health benefits of secular consonance are minimized when not accompanied by
religious cultural status.
For these Pentecostals, greater religious consonance leads to
better mental health and greater combined religious and secular
consonance leads to the lowest levels of psychological distress.
These findings are unsurprising since individuals experience less
dissonance and psychological distress depending on their success
in a high number of complementary cultural domains. Their high
consonance in one dimension is congruent with another, supplying
them with consistent status and autonomy as they move from one
sociocultural sphere to another.
The respondents with high levels of religious consonance and
low levels of secular consonance do not experience the same levels
of well-being as their multi-consonant counterparts. They do,
however, show better psychological well-being than those with
low religious consonance. Low secular status is still met by negative
feedback by dominant cultural bearers, resulting in distress that is
not completely negated by high religious consonance. The respect
afforded to them within the church community as a result of high
religious consonance is not replicated outside the chapel doors.
Consequently, their religious life is incongruent with their secular
life.
This differential appraisal of cultural indicators of status is
shaped by the unique positioning of these specific domains. The
data show that crentes' religious status alters the appraisal and
influence of their secular status. Religion is the dominant cultural
lens by which Pentecostals interpret the world and evaluate their
status within multidimensional sociocultural space. The malleable
influence of secular cultural consonance, on the other hand, suggests that these measures of status are somewhat devalued as independent markers of success. As such, it is not accurate to
conceive of a distinction between widely distributed secular cultural models and limited distributed religious models. The data
show that the two exist in an interactive relationship, with religion
explaining the majority of the variance. It can be reasonably argued
that the value attached to a domain can be ascertained by how they
directly influence well-being and how they alter the relationship of
consonance and health in other status domains. Domains which are
valued more should carry greater influence than those of lesser
importance. Accordingly, one can conceive of A Vida Completa
acting as a superordinate cultural domain, framing the meaning
and value of other subordinate models of status (see Fig. 2).
This research provides a novel model for the interaction of
multiple measures of subjective status in relation to well-being.
Recent research on multiple subjective/objective statuses and
24
H. François Dengah II / Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
Fig. 2. The transformation of cultural models. The introduction of the superordinate
religious model reframes aspects of the two secular models. Their affective influence
on well-being is altered (the dotted lines), as is their appraisal. These secular models
are “converted” and are viewed in relation to and as part of the religious model (hence
the incorporation of the red and yellow rectangles into the blue square). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the
web version of this article.)
health has questioned the additive effect of social status indicators.
For instance, several studies cast doubt on the double or triple
jeopardy effect of gender, race, and class, such as Roxburgh's (2009)
finding of fewer depressive symptoms among lower educated
African-Americans than similarly educated white men (see also
Breslau et al., 2006; Rosenfield, 2012). Such studies, however, tend
to rely on post-hoc explanations of “culture” to explain the seemingly counter-intuitive results. More culturally-oriented research
coming out of anthropology suggest that these paradoxical results
stem from the incongruence of meanings associated with status, as
in Dressler's (1993) aforementioned work among rural Alabamians
(see also McDade, 2002; Sweet, 2010). These studies, however, find
that statuses interact in rather rigid ways. While the combinations
of statuses results in a crossover effect with health, the meaning of
each status remains independent from the other; distress results
from the incongruence of status rather the reinterpretation of
status' meaning.
This research shows that some limitedly distributed cultural
models can alter the appraisal and influence of more widely
distributed markers of subjective social status. The high value
attached to A Vida Completa, because of its superordinate position
within Pentecostal culture, ensures that other models are viewed
through this religious paradigm. It is entirely likely that this effect is
not unique to religious models, but is a function of limitedly
distributed cultural models within highly circumscribed communities that promote a particular worldview. Indeed, in a secondary
study of two national data sets, Sarah Rosenfield (2012) argues that
the effect of race, gender, and class status does not follow simple
additive or interaction patterns. Rather, she finds that the complex
relation between these markers of status and mental health can be
explained by the patterns of what she calls “relational schemas.”
However, unlike Rosenfield's (2012) study, which found that individual psychologies shaped meanings of status, this research suggests that meanings of status are patterned both culturally and by
one's level of consonance with a superordinate cultural model.
The notion that the value and meaning attached to a status
domain can be shaped by consonance with another cultural model
is a notion that warrants further investigation. Ideas of cultural
model variation have been variously conceived of as “heteroglossia”
(Strauss, 1990); multiple answer keys (Hruschka et al., 2008); and
residual agreement (Dengah, 2013; Dressler et al., in press). Such
approaches are concerned with how differences in the compositional structure of the model are patterned among individuals. I
suggest, however, that the meaning, rather than the constituent
parts of the model, can be shaped by one's adherence with other
cultural models. The effect of various levels of consonance on one
anotherdwithin the larger constellation of subjective statusesdrequires additional study.
For example, future research needs to examine how other configurations of ascribed and achieved status are cognitively situated
and interacting in shaping health outcomes. While this study did
not find any significant difference on the basis of race and gender, it
is likely that other cultural models of status (e.g., ideal spouse,
attractiveness, public authority) will have significant gender, class,
and racial dimensions. Similarly, such correlations and interaction
likely differ among those of differing levels of community
involvement. This research found that even among highly active
members of the community, slight differences in consonance can
shape patterns of well-being. While such core and elite members
are influential forces of the religious community, they do not
comprise the entirety of the faithful. It is important to consider how
such patterns of cultural status and health differ among those
positioned at different horizontal (e.g., less active, backsliders) and
longitudinal (e.g., potential converts, neophytes) levels. Additionally, future research needs to examine what other limitedlydistributed cultural models have the ability to alter the appraisals
and influence of other measures of status. For instance, political
affiliation, restrictive clubs, and groups that carry high membership
costs (see Sosis, 2006) may interact with dominant indicators of
status and health in similar ways. Religion is not unique in its ability
to operate as a superordinate cultural modeld other domains of
high value likely function in similar ways.
7. Conclusion
This article has shown how cognitive anthropological methods
can identify an individual's position within the multidimensional
space of sociocultural status. For Brazilian Pentecostals, both
secular and religious indicators of success are salient in their lives.
Crentes do not completely exist apart from the cultural expectations
of secular societydbut they do interpret secular standards through
their religious worldview. As a result, they organize their cognitive
models within an interactive, hierarchal framework, where the
combination of consonance within multiple domains ultimately
shapes psychological outcomes of respondents.
This study shows that researchers must consider alternative
sociocultural hierarchies, as well as their synergistic influence on
one another, in order to fully understand patterns of subjective
status and health. Cultural consonance provides a means to identify
shared cultural views of status and to measure a respondents'
adherence to these multiple, culturally informed standards.
Acknowledgments
The research presented in this paper was supported by a
Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS-1061026). I would like to express my
appreciation to William Dressler, Anna Cohen, and the three
anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and critiques of an
earlier draft of this paper. Finally, thank you to the members of the
~o Preto for inviting me into their
AD and IURD churches in Ribeira
congregations to conduct this research.
H. François Dengah II / Social Science & Medicine 114 (2014) 18e25
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