title: The interaction of ethnicity, sociocultural factors, and gender in clinical psychopharmacology.
abstract: There is increased interest in the role that ethnicity, sociocultural factors, and gender play in research, health care delivery, and response to intervention. The impact of these factors on AIDS awareness programs, on the phenomenology of suicide and anorexia nervosa, and on clinical psychopharmacology in a homogeneous population is discussed. Risky sex practices can be related to cultural norms that stigmatize condom use and sex education; economic deprivation; and male dominance. Gender, cultural, and ethnic demographics can identify high-risk groups as well as influence effective interventions. Suicide rates and risk factors are compared in African-American, Canadian Native, and South Korean adolescents. Academic stress was a differential risk factor for the Koreans. Anorexia nervosa predominantly affects women and has cultural differences in prevalence. The homogeneous population in Hong Kong illustrates the impact of ethnicity, sociocultural factors, and gender on clinical psychopharmacology. Attention to ethnicity, sociocultural factors, and gender can individualize and improve the effectiveness of clinical psychopharmacology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Neurosciences Hospital, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 27599-7160, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dawkins
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005006:Ethnicity; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011600:Psychopharmacology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013405:Suicide