Measuring psychoneurotic behavior in cross-cultural surveys

In recent years, a number of studies have appeared which attempt to measure neurotic disorders among population samples in different cultural settings. The problem of how to define and measure psychiatric disorders in untreated groups, and especially in cultures to which the investigators are not native, is, however, far from resolved. The present report describes an effort to study psychological stress among the Serer of Senegal. We describe a method we used to develop a questionnaire to tap symptoms of psychiatric distress, and which would be geared to the realities of place and setting. By means of a factor analysis of the responses to this questionnaire by more than 400 subjects, we identify four dimensions by which the Serer express neurotic disturbance. Further analyses presented in the report demonstrate that these are not merely ways of expressing symptoms based on physical illness, that they are able to discriminate between ill and well people in the Serer frame of reference, that they possess domain validity, and that they demonstrate important similarities and differences with factors obtained using similar techniques in different cultural settings. From a methodological point of view, we illustrate the importance of using a multidimensional approach in such studies.