SOC363: 1. Intro

Question 1

Mental Health as a Social Mirror

Answer 1

social mirror: marker reflects meaning of social environs experienced by indivs exposed
“Mental health is everyone’s ultimate dependent variable”

Question 2

Why mental health?

Answer 2

efficient indicator of emotional status in environments

Emotional status reflects benign vs. destructive influences of social environments on human functioning

Question 3

Ultimate Dependent Variable

Answer 3

ppl have in mind when they study other issues —
study of child “well-being” in disadvantaged neighborhoods: losses to educational achievement, single-parent families, increased threats to security
The effect of divorce on men and women: the focus on loss of financial resources.

Question 4

Ultimate Dependent Variable

Answer 4

Studies of immigrant “incorporation” into labor force
Consequences of segregation
Effects of social + work policies: “family-friendly”, parental leaves, flex time

Question 5

Sociological Perspectives: Some Fundamentals (from Aneshensel)

Answer 5

sociological orientation — how society shapes thoughts, feelings + actions of its members in ways that are considered to be mental illness + with consequences of having, or being thought to have, a mental illness.”

Question 6

Sociological Perspectives: Some Fundamentals (from Aneshensel)

Answer 6

Suggests social causation

argument that social status + social environment have a causal role in mental health problems

Question 7

Sociological Perspectives: Some Fundamentals (from Aneshensel)

Answer 7

Could be indirect role, as in:
environ - change in brain functioning - mental illness
environ can be the original cause of mental illness

Question 8

Sociological Perspectives: Distinctive Role

Answer 8

Basic difference with psychology, biology, and psychiatry:

Sociology de-individuates problem of functioning – away from indiv + locates problem in environ

Question 9

Sociological Perspectives: Distinctive Role

Answer 9

pose possibility reaction to the environment is natural

tend to favour individualist explanation, the genetic or biological explanation - Simpler

Question 10

Sociological Perspectives: Distinctive Role

Answer 10

Single cause argument: suggests magic bullet drug

Distracts from role of more difficult problems to articulate + solve

Question 11

Sociological Perspectives: Distinctive Role

Answer 11

overwhelms discourse: obsessive focus on biology + neuroscience
avoid social inequality problems that we feel we don’t have control over

Question 12

Sociological Perspectives:

Typical Components of Mental Health Problems

Answer 12

Disturbances in emotions + affect
sense of suffering, of hurt, of pain
Changes in thinking + behavior that cannot be understood – by the individual or by others
Emotions without a cause – elation, sadness, anxiety, fears

Question 13

Sociological Perspectives:

Typical Components of Mental Health Problems

Answer 13

problem of defining core
recently been bereaved or suffered some other tragedy would be classified insane, along with countless others who live lives of quiet despair brought about by poverty, injustice, racism, war, famine and disease

Question 14

Sociological Perspectives:

Typical Components of Mental Health Problems

Answer 14

Cruelty and brutality are not the exclusive property of mad people, but are regularly practiced in many of our most cherished institutions; auditory and visual hallucinations are not considered untoward in the feverish, the religious fanatic, psychic or the drug user;

Question 15

Sociological Perspectives:

Typical Components of Mental Health Problems

Answer 15

no therapeutic intervention has been designed to “cure” the grandiose self-importance of statesmen, prelates, and pop stars, + our political leaders’ mendacity and ability to simultaneously maintain wholly inconsistent and contradictory positions is not taken as an indication that they are deranged
Suffering is suffering – this IS the problem we want to focus on o Context matters

Question 16

Sociological Perspectives: Social Construction

Answer 16

Mental illness “created” as a method of social control.
Denies suffering, patterns and causation of suffering - anti-progressive
Hides consequences of social inequality

Question 17

Sociological Perspectives: The Illness Controversy

Answer 17

problems of the Medical Model
No demonstrated organic causation: result can be confused with cause
attribute mental illness to genetics or chemical imbalance and also stressful circumstances
these circumstances - stresses are patterned by social disadvantage

Question 18

Sociological Perspectives: The Illness Controversy

Answer 18

Some problems seems to act that way; others don’t.
Categories: eating disorders, dissociative disorders, schizophrenia, antisocial personality..
Dimensional: depression, anxiety, PTSD..

Question 19

Beginnings of the Area

Answer 19

Origins in stratification research
classic studies of social class
results show that highest rate occurs in lower classes

Question 20

Beginnings of the Area

Answer 20

Chicago School focus on emerging issues of urban life

Social patterns reflect ecological reality that supersedes individual + in tension with biological/genetic reductionism

Question 21

Beginnings of the Area

Answer 21

rates drop away from centre of Chicago
poorest people were downtown
argument for socail causation
but causation or social selection?
social causation: low social class are causal in mental health problems

Question 22

Sociological Perspectives: Social Causation vs. Social Selection

Answer 22

Social selection the opposite of social causation:

o Mental illness occurs due to biological or genetic factors, but when it occurs, it has social consequences.

Question 23

Sociological Perspectives: Social Causation vs. Social Selection

Answer 23

• E.g., loss of job, loss of marriage, lower income.
! Here the disorder causes the social environment you are exposed to, your social status, rather than the other way around.

Question 24

Sociological Perspectives: Social Causation vs. Social Selection

Answer 24

-

Question 25

Beginnings of the Area

Answer 25

Origins in stratification research.
!  The classic studies of social class: o  Faris and Dunham (1939)
o  Hollingshead and Redlich (1957)
o  Langner and Michael (1962)
o  Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend (1970).

Question 26

Beginnings of the Area

Answer 26

! The Chicago School focus on the emerging issues of urban life.
! Social patterns reflect an ecological reality that supersedes the individual, and is in tension with biological or genetic reductionism.
! The map that points the way……

Question 27

Social Class as an Origin of Mental Health Differences

Answer 27

Emerged in a series of famous studies: the argument for social causation, rather than genetic or biological causation.
! BUT: is it causation or social selection? ! Social causation in this case:

Question 28

Social Class as an Origin of Mental Health Differences

Answer 28

o low social class (disadvantaged environments, statuses, roles) are causal in mental health problems.
! Social selection in this case:
o Mental health problems cause the loss of status.
! Which is it?

Question 29

Social Class as an Origin of Mental Health Differences

Answer 29

-

Question 30

Social Class as an Origin of Mental Health Differences

Answer 30

0

Question 31

History by Decades

Answer 31

! 30’s: Chicago school.
! 40’s: World War II: symptom scales to soldiers
! 50’s: Community studies.: relationships between social class, race, other social inequality

Question 32

History by Decades

Answer 32

! 60’s: Birth of modern stress research.: from publication: thousands of studies that measures stress
! 70’s: Promise and disappointment.

Question 33

History by Decades

Answer 33

! 80’s: The Stress Process era; the ECA studies: first good measure of prevalence of mental illness

Question 34

History by Decades

Answer 34

! 90’s: More Inputs, more Outputs, Life History: start focusing on … and comparitive mental health
! 00’s: Social Contexts, Macro Events, Terrorism

Question 35

WWII: Screening for Vulnerability

Answer 35

Primarily symptoms of anxiety… o Bothered by nervousness
o Fainting spells
o Hands tremble

Question 36

WWII: Screening for Vulnerability

Answer 36

o Bothered by nightmares

o Pressure or pains in the head o Bothered by upset stomach o Shortness of breath

Question 37

WWII: Screening for Vulnerability

Answer 37

o Prefer to be alone

if yes to too many, couldn’t enlist

Question 38

Modern Distress Scale: Depression

Answer 38

look trivial on their own, but as more and more yeses, then harder to ignore suffering
love talking to strangers about problems

Question 39

Stress Theory

Answer 39

Stress theory mainly refers to the Stress Process Model, which includes:
o Sources of social inequality, i.e., social status
o The differential exposure to stress that results

Question 40

Stress Theory

Answer 40

o Differential access to resources to cope with stress o Multiple mental health and life outcomes.
both are distributed unevenly, could be both

Question 41

Origins of Stress Theory

Answer 41

Selye (1956): The Stress of Life. The biological stress model.
! Stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome
4 Stages
stresses - alarm response - resistance (coping) - longer coping without success leads to exhaustion

Question 42

Origins of Stress Theory

Answer 42

For Selye in the lab: extreme heat or cold, shocks, overcrowding, etc.
! Started a movement to attempt to measure stress in humans.

Question 43

Origins of Stress Theory

Answer 43

Stressors Defined:
o Conditions of threat, demand, or structural constraint that, by their very existence, call into the question the operating integrity of the organism.
• Threats: require a response.
• Demands: overload, burden, being pushed.
• Constraints: severe and non-self-limiting social disadvantage, restriction of choice, opportunities, or under-reward or discrimination

Question 44

Origins of Stress Theory

Answer 44

stressors come in many forms, not just dramatic or traumatic

Question 45

Origins of Stress Theory

Answer 45

Come in various versions, discussed later, but for now — some are discrete and short-term, some are continuous and long-term.
stressors come in many forms, not just dramatic or traumatic

Question 46

Measuring Stress

Answer 46

Holmes and Rahe (1967) devised the famous Social Readjustment Ratings Scale, based on:
o clinical data about the most common precipitating events to medical visits

Question 47

Measuring Stress

Answer 47

o the ratings of an expert panel of the relative importance of those events.
most cited reasons for medical visits

Question 48

Measuring Stress

Answer 48

Stressful life events defined as “major changes in people`s lives that require extensive behavioral readjustments.” (Thoits, 107)

Question 49

Holmes and Rahe Life Events Scale

Answer 49

no avg meaning for these things
questionable measurements
set of values embodied in the measurements
taking away ability to describe how it affects individuals

Question 50

Promise and Disappointment

Answer 50

Differential Exposure Hypothesis: literally used in 1000’s of studies, and almost always predictive of risk for mental health, and health problems…
naive scale

Question 51

Promise and Disappointment

Answer 51

! BUT: the correlation was often small relative to what was expected.
! A correlation: a measure of strength of association that varies from 0 (no association) to 1 (perfect association).

Question 52

Promise and Disappointment

Answer 52

! Average correlation was around .30

! Why?

Question 53

Elaboration of the Model

Answer 53

Differential Exposure to Stress not enough: People react differently to the same stressors.
! Four explanations (to be explained later):
o 1)TheTraitHypothesis
o 2)TheDifferentialVulnerabilityHypothesis. o 3)TheContextHypothesis
o 4)TheStressDomainHypothesis.
! Differential Vulnerability became important: stands for the idea that one’s response to stress varies depending on access to or possession of coping resources that buffer the stress.
! Also: Life events a very restricted view of stress – Stress Domain Hypothesis includes chronic stressors, traumas, nonevents, daily hassles, contextual stressors….

Question 54

Elaboration of the Model

Answer 54

diff meanings and coping resources

1) varied in inherency - least avoidable events are most stressful
2) look are effect depending on resources or sense of control
3) can’t define without context
4) events are just small part of stress