Social justice in a shifting cultural landscape and its impact on health

Background: While the core elements of social justice lie in the universal values of human rights, the perception of social justice/injustice and its consequential impact on health is closely related to cultural values. Thus shifts in cultural values would change the perception of what is acceptable or just, which in turn could introduce new social stressors leading to emergence of new patterns of disease. Methods:We investigated mate selection in India, a culture that has traditional roots but has been undergoing rapid shifts from its growing exposure to the western world. During this transitional time, new social stressors impacting health may be surfacing. Mate selection in the west is based primarily on falling in love whereas in India, selecting a mate has been traditionally arranged. We studied a group of 350 college students in Mumbai, a major metropolis undergoing rapid cultural change in recent years. We administered questionnaires measuring the influence exerted by tradition on mate selection and its health impact. Results / Outcomes: Logistic regression analysis determined that traditional influence predicted (Exp(b)=-.249; p= .005) the choice of arranged marriage. While this choice has previously been considered the norm, the Mann–Whitney test results indicated significantly (p=0.04) higher depression among individuals making that choice, an association not observed previously. Conclusion: These results suggest that a perceptual shift in a social tradition may be taking place with consequent health impacts. Implications derived from this study can help us better understand parallels among immigrant populations in the US.