Research in two rural communities in Costa Rica explores the concept of nervios, a culture‐specific complaint which covers a wide range of mental and physical symptoms. Nervios is shown to vary by sex, age, marital and parental status, and stage in the life cycle. The complaint does not correlate with socioeconomic status or power inequalities, nor is it a type of sick role behavior. Some nervios cases are shown to be linked with family problems, sex role stress, economic problems, and general life stress. The meaning of nervios for sufferers and significant others is discussed and the adaptive value of the concept is suggested.
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Barlett et al. (1980) studied this question.
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