The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 30 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Historical Prevalence of Infectious Diseases Within 230 Geopolitical Regions: A Tool for Investigating Origins of Culture
Abstract
Regional differences in disease prevalence are associated with a wide array of cross-cultural differences. However, the complex relationships among culture, disease, and other ecological variables remain underinvestigated. Future research into the origins of cultural differences will benefit from the availability of a numerical index identifying the extent to which infectious diseases have been historically prevalent within regions defined by geopolitical borders. This article introduces such an index. This index is based on disease prevalence data obtained from old epidemiological atlases and is calculated for 230 geopolitical regions (mostly nations) around the world.
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“Other recent cross-national studies showed that collectivism, autocracy, traditional gender roles (women's subordination relative to men's higher status), and women's traditional sexual restrictiveness and continence are values that positively covary with one another, and occur in nations with high prevalence of infectious disease.”
From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Murray & Schaller 2010
In the citing paper
“Also, the antipoles of each of the values - individualism (hence, liberalism), democracy, and women's political rights, freedom, and increased participation in casual sex - are a positively covarying set of values and are found in countries with relatively low parasite-stress”
From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Murray & Schaller 2010
In the citing paper
“This measure is internally reliable; across a worldwide sample of 160 countries, the 9-item index has Cronbach's alpha = .84”
From Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013) · cites this paper as [29]
In the citing paper
“previous analyses reveal that all four variables are predicted by measures of parasite stress [7], [29].”
From Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013) · cites this paper as [29]
In the citing paper
“Additional analyses revealed that country-level differences in authoritarian governance were even more strongly predicted by a measure of historical (rather than modern-day) parasite prevalence [29]”
From Pathogens and Politics: Further Evidence That Parasite Prevalence Predicts Authoritarianism (2013) · cites this paper as [29]
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Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/collectivism
Fincher, C. L., Thornhill, R., Murray, D. R., & Schaller, M. (2008) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.0094 · Cited by 1,014
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Self-citation
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Metadata
- Authors
- Murray, D. R., & Schaller, M.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Murray, Damian R.
- Venue
- Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2009-10-15
- Volume
- 41
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 99-108
- ISSN
- 0022-0221 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-5422
- OpenAlex
- W2113281787
- Cited by
- 446
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 35 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 70 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 29.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Development › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Keywords
- infectious disease prevalence, geopolitical regions, cultural origins, cross-cultural comparison, cultural evolution
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