American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 25, 324-330, Copyright © 1972 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Lead poisoning: subculture as a facilitating agent?

¹ Associate Professor at the School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
² Caseworker at Mt. Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio

Lead poisoning has been known to be a serious physical and mental health problem. Existing literature as well as investigation by the authors of this paper suggest that this form of poisoning is most frequent among children from economically deprived Negro families of the inner city. A major explanation for the occurrence of such poisoning in this population is that the residents in those parts of the city live in housing that is old and deteriorating, and the orally active young children swallow the fallen paint and plaster containing lead. However, no other population group seems to contract lead poisoning with as high a frequency as do southern Negro children, even when attempts are made to control the quality of housing. The authors hypothesize that permissive socialization of oral behavior among the subculture of the southern Negro may be a facilitating factor of lead poisoning. In other words: given poor housing where lead-based building materials are present, children from subcultures with relatively more permissive socialization of oral behavior will have a higher probability of contracting lead poisoning.