Political influence associates with cortisol and health among egalitarian forager-farmers.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Low social status increases risk of disease due, in part, to the psychosocial stress that accompanies feeling subordinate or poor. Previous studies report that chronic stress and chronically elevated cortisol can impair cardiovascular and immune function. We test whether lower status is more benign in small-scale, relatively egalitarian societies, where leaders lack coercive authority and there is minimal material wealth to contest.

Methodology

Among Tsimane' forager-horticulturalists of lowland Bolivia, we compare informal political influence among men with urinary cortisol, immune activation (innate and acquired), and morbidity as assessed during routine medical exams.

Results

After controlling for potential confounds, we find that politica

SUBMITTER: von Rueden CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4178369 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature