The Power of Clan

      

In the early 80’s, when I was in the process of developing my private practice, I was asked to do a series of workshops, centering on causal factors of stress, at a neighboring hospital open to the public.  My brother, Benj, suggested I read a study by Stewart Wolf who had done a longitudinal study on an Italian American community in Roseto, Pennsylvania.  The study done over a period of 25 years that dated back from 1954 became the thesis of the book, The Power of Clan, that he co-authored with John Bruhn.  

Wolf, whose specialty was psychosomatic medicine, became interested in the people from Roseto when a physician practicing there told him in 1961 that he rarely saw patients with heart attacks under the age of 50 years.  Insofar as the inhabitants of neighboring communities had a much earlier onset of myocardial infarction that could be traced back to 1954, Wolf made an effort to tease out what the effect was that preserved the residents of Roseto.  What he discovered, to his surprise, was that the common risk factors for heart attacks, such as smoking, lack of exercise, high fat and cholesterol diet were as prevalent in Roseto as they were in four nearby control towns.

Because the dietary habits of the Roseto denizens were no different than those of nearby communities, Wolf began to suspect that there might be something specific about the lifestyle of the town’s residents.  He maintained that family bonds of a patriarchal nature and shared social values, in a community where there was almost no crime to speak of, had a protective effect on Roseto’s residents. He labeled this the “Roseto effect, that is, the phenomenon by which a close-knit community experiences a reduced rate of heart disease.”

Subsequently, Wolf predicted that if and when these bonds were lost, the death rate due to heart attacks would not differ from Roseto’s more neighboring communities. In his follow-up investigation conducted in 1975, he found that the next generation had abandoned the values of the closely knit family values to assimilate into the more individual and materialistic principles more characteristic of America.  Low and behold, upon leaving the subculture and taking on the values of the predominate culture, the death rate from heart attacks climbed to those seen in neighboring towns.

It is important to keep in mind, that the Roseto study was a correlational study where there was no experimental manipulation of any variable but rather naturalistic observations of a community taken over a period of 25 years.  Thus, epidemiologists were critical of a study in which Roseto’s small population of 1600 was sufficiently large where  time-phase studies could be conducted.  However, the Journal of the American Medical Association, did publish Wolf’s work.

When I presented the above study as part of a workshop I did on stress, a woman of Italian background, did not appear happy.  Her comment to me was “but who would want to live that kind of life.”  I pointed out to the participants that I was not advocating this as a life style but rather illustrating the effect this way of living had appeared to result in a longer life.  But the woman’s comment that questioned the worth of such values inherent in the Roseto community, did make an impression on me.  How important is one’s life-span in determining how an individual wishes to live her/his life.  A colleague and friend of mine, Charles Sooter, described this dilemma most succinctly when he said: “Can we be close but not closed.”  Those of us who live in contemporary American society are not likely to adhere to the rigid patriarchal nature of the Roseto community first studied by Wolf in 1961.   

Women, in general, we know outlive men by 4 to 5 years.  Aside from the biological differences between the two sexes, I always have thought that women are much better socializers and, in general, less isolated than men.  Could this social quality of women contribute to their longevity? After all, it was Aristotle who said: “Man is a social animal.”   

I do not think social media with its algorithms that reinforce extremist comments is a suitable replacement for healthy trusting relationships. Rather, the ease and availability of online video games etc. have tended to isolate us from one another.  Perhaps the key is to create communities where there is a basic underlying foundation of trust and cohesion among its occupants that allows them the ability to satisfy their own individual desires.   Certainly, the creation of activities and interests where groups of people meet with one another and share a mutual bond is a start to counteracting the isolative nature of social media.  This could start in the home where children would be encouraged to participate in group activities such as baseball or soccer. Moreover, PTA events, contingent on fundraising, could foster a sense of community with those families involved.   

Ultimately, the question is what in the future will bring community together.  For example, will there be a revival of religious institutions such as the church, synagogue or mosque?  On this question of vital importance, I welcome my readers to write on how they envision the future.