Journal of Child and Family Studies, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1998, pp. 403-409 Culture and Mental Health: Nonverbal Communication Nirbhay N. Singh, Ph-D.,1,4 Jennifer D. McKay, M.D., 2 and Ashvind N. Singh3 All behavior occurs in a cultural context. Context, which can be de- fined in a number of ways, has been referred to as the web of experience that includes thoughts, acts, and the past (Kuhns & Martorana, 1982); the general framework which influences a person's current decision making about specific issues (Welshimer & Earp, 1989); and the immediately rele- vant aspects of a situation in which a person functions (Miles & Huberman, 1984). Culture is a dynamic conceptual abstraction that has been socially constructed by groups of people, and is continually modified and transmit- ted across generations. Broadly defined, culture is "the shared values, traditions, arts, history, folklore, and institutions of a group of people that are unified by race, ethnicity, nationality, language, religious beliefs, spiri- tuality, socioeconomic status, social class, sexual orientation, politics, gender, age, disability, or any other cohesive group variable" (Singh, 1995). Clearly, this definition recognizes that all of us simultaneously belong to more than one cultural group and that each person is involved in complex dynamic relationships with others from overlapping cultural traditions. The components of a culture have been classified across several di- mensions. For example, Triandis (1977) dichotomized culture as objective, which refers to its tangible or observable aspects, and subjective, which re- fers to its invisible or mental aspects. The objective aspects of a culture, which include such things as its members' clothing, food, and artifacts, are 1Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Clinical Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. 2Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow, University of Texas, Houston, TX. 3Research Specialist, Eastern State Hospital, Williamsburg, VA. 4Correspondence should be directed to Nirbhay N. Singh, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, P.O. Box 980489, Richmond, VA 23298-0489. 403 1062-1024/98/1200-0403$15.00/0 © 1998 Human Sciences Press, Inc.