Week #10 Flashcards
What is health?
World Health Organization definition of health
“the state of complete mental, physical, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”
What measures of health are used in sociology research for physical health?
Mortality Morbidity - illness and disease Self-assessed health/Self-perceptions Life expectancy
What measures of health are used in sociology research for mental health?
Ranges from serious mental disorders to subjective indicators of quality of life
what factors influence health?
individual behaviours and risk factors, and social determinants
what are individual behaviours?
health lifestyles, behaviours that directly affect health
what are social determinants of health
The economic and social conditions that influence the health of individuals. ex. Aboriginal status Early life Education Employment and working conditions Housing Income Social exclusion
what is fundamental cause theory?
-Much of our focus is on proximate causes of disease, like behavioural risks
-Not enough to focus on proximate causes
- Fundamental causes shape exposure to all risk factors
- Risk factors and diseases change,
but …
-the association between SES and health remain despite advances
- Example = HIV/AIDS
what is the relationshp between social class and health?
Components related to health: Economic status Occupation - Economic - Physical conditions - Prestige Social capital – advantage created by relationships with others
Relationship between SES and health?
Low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with: lower life expectancy higher mortality higher rates of disease major mental disorders
What is the relationship between education and health?
Improve education to improve health of a population
Education Influences … 1. position in the social structure 2. ability to make better choices “Learned effectiveness” habits, skills, resources, abilities that enable people to achieve a better life 3. locus of control
what is the locus of control?
Internal (personal control):
- what happens to us is based on our own choices and actions.
2.External:
situations are determined by forces external to oneself such as powerful others, luck, fate, or chance.
- External more harmful to health
- LOC is learned from social experiences
explain cumlative advantage/disadvantage theory?
social systems generate inequality, which is manifested over the life course via demographic and developmental processes
Explain relationship between cumulative dis/advantage in health
Later in Life people with low ses experience poor health in aging than people with high ses
What are the three aspects of cumulative advantage and health?
Accumulation
Acceleration
Protective factors
Explain accumulation?
Socioeconomic
Behavioural
Biological
