The author suggests that the high prevalence of psychopathology (as measured by the number of marital problems and emotional problems of adolescents requiring professional care) noted in the American community in Bangkok, Thailand, during 1971-1972 was related to social disintegration. Comparison with a relatively integrated American community in Japan reveals a strikingly lower prevalence of psychopathology. The author notes that this observation substantiates the theory of Leighton and associates that the state of social integration of an environment affects the mental health of the population.
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GEORGE KOJAK (1974) studied this question.