Modernization in the Samoas and children's reactivity: a pilot study

This investigation studied the potential effects of societal modernization on Samoan children's blood pressure and heart rate reactivity to a standardized television video game procedure. Ethnic Samoan children were sampled from Western Samoa (N = 72), a relatively underdeveloped country with a largely agricultural economy, and American Samoa (N = 70), a territory of the United States that has undergone substantial modernization due to recent economic aid. Results indicated that Western Samoans demonstrated significantly greater systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate reactivity than American Samoans. These data, in conjunction with previous data, suggest that the hemodynamic effects of an acute stressor are inversely associated with societal modernization and an individual's adoption of a lifestyle reflecting integration into a modernized society. Further work is needed to examine the implications of this hypothesis and the associations among concrete measures of modernization and children's cardiovascular risk.