"In this case, there were some anxiety attacks. Some of the symptoms were an increase in heart palpitations, fear of dying, cold sweats. You feel hopeless," said Reynold "Butch" Gima, a state social worker who works with adult mental health patients on Lanai.

A federally funded study confirms Gima's observations of a pattern of depression among some resort employees who were former pineapple workers.

According to the $340,000 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the shift from pineapple production to tourism on Lanai has contributed to lessening family cohesion and a 37 percent rise in crime there in the last five years.

Jon K. Matsuoka, a professor at the University of Hawaii's School of Social Work, said his study also found a structure of unequal employment that favored "nonresidents over residents in managerial and salaried positions."

"Longtime Lanai residents were not faring well compared to nonresidents, particularly those coming from the American continent. Lanai-born persons experienced significantly higher levels of unpleasant life events and the lowest levels of life satisfaction," Matsuoka said.

"Who really benefits from this kind of development? The answer is new Hawaii residents."

The study, "Economic Change and Mental Health on Lanai," measured the effects of the economic conversion through interviews in a little more than 200 households and also in 11 focus groups in 1993 and 1995.

"The results are not surprising," Gima said. "But it legitimizes our observations and impressions because it's conducted in a formalized process."

Gima said what he found particularly interesting was a pattern of fairly consistent increases in crime under the tourist economy.

A company-funded study, in earlier analysis, had dismissed that as nonexistent.

Matsuoka said that during the pineapple operation years of 1986-90, felony crimes averaged 81.4 incidents. But in 1991-95, when hotels became the major part of the economy, felony crimes averaged 115.6 incidents, he said.

Dole Food Co. shut down pineapple production in the late 1980s and developed two hotel resorts, the Manele Bay Hotel and the Lodge at Koele.

The firm separated itself from continuing to support the resorts financially when it spun off the Lanai Co. hotel operations as part of Castle & Cooke Inc. in 1995.

Vince Bagoyo, a vice president of Lanai Co., said the company has not seen the study and that it would be premature to comment.

Also, the job schedules at hotels change frequently, making the planning of family time more difficult, he said.

In place of parents, older children are taking care of younger children, creating a gap between parents and children.

"You have kids with a lot of free time on their hands without parental supervision," Matsuoka said. "Because of this combination of factors, that makes it very easy to describe the increase in juvenile crime."

"A lot was said about the cultural misunderstanding between supervisors and workers. Misreadings of behaviors led to problems and conflicts," Matsuoka said.

A number of pineapple workers now employed at the resorts spoke about the lack of a place for workers to congregate to exchange community news, as they did when they met in the pineapple base yard before boarding trucks to work. "The base yard was really critical. It was really an important time to get together. People took lunch breaks together," he said.

"At a hotel, not everybody can take simultaneous breaks. As routine as these events may be, they were pretty strong in breeding social cohesion.

"I believe this pattern predisposes communities to experience a host of problems. It creates division among people, especially a greater rift between rich and working class. It reinforces racial disparities and, because of power imbalance, it encourages a westernization."

Matsuoka said labor unions which endorsed the hotel developments need to recognize the problems that accompany economic solutions. He said economic development and employment does not necessarily result in better mental health and might pose a different set of problems.

Goro Hokama, a former councilman and labor leader on Lanai, said the company was supposed to develop the resorts in addition to continuing pineapple operations.

He said the single-industry economy makes residents reluctant to criticize the company.

"That's the sad thing. People are afraid they'll lose their jobs."

Matsuoka said a lesson to be learned from the study is that keeping traditional ways of life may be more cost-effective than abandoning them and then having to provide state human services.

He added, "Altering an agricultural lifestyle diminishes" people's roots to the land. "What does it do to the human psyche?