Podcast Beta
Questions and Answers
What is considered a contested illness?
Which factor is NOT one of the five features of place that affect health?
What is one of the functions of stigma?
In which year were the first racial zoning laws adopted?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a characteristic of the built environment?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the stigma associated with illness often lead to?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following is NOT a way to address stigma?
Signup and view all the answers
Which statement best reflects the concept that medical knowledge is socially constructed?
Signup and view all the answers
How is race fundamentally understood based on the content provided?
Signup and view all the answers
What theory suggests a divine justification for the racial hierarchy?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the significance of the 'Curse of Ham' in the context of race?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following describes 'upstream' factors concerning health disparities?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a key characteristic of 'downstream' interventions?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the concept of 'racial formation' refer to?
Signup and view all the answers
Why is Robert Boyle's work on pigmentation significant?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following describes a belief held by the Puritans regarding race?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following strategies is considered necessary for addressing upstream health disparities?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a misconception often associated with the medical care component in health disparities?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following best describes allostasis?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the term 'allostatic load' refer to?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following is NOT an adaptive stress response?
Signup and view all the answers
Which stress-related disorder is characterized by fatigue among other symptoms?
Signup and view all the answers
What role does sleep play in relation to stress?
Signup and view all the answers
Which coping strategy involves changing the environment?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following statements about chronic stress is accurate?
Signup and view all the answers
What is the 'rebound effect' in thought suppression related to stress?
Signup and view all the answers
What three powers are primarily associated with government in the context of social structures?
Signup and view all the answers
Which aspect of racism highlights the unequal advantages granted to certain communities?
Signup and view all the answers
What does internalized racism involve?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following represents a direct consequence of personally mediated racism?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a primary characteristic of institutionalized racism?
Signup and view all the answers
What term describes the structured opportunity discrepancies based on appearance?
Signup and view all the answers
Which factor is considered an upstream cause of health disparities?
Signup and view all the answers
What concept is highlighted by differential access to resources like education and employment based solely on race?
Signup and view all the answers
What is one significant impact of residential segregation on health outcomes?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following describes a food desert?
Signup and view all the answers
How does the Fair Housing Act of 1968 contribute to housing equity?
Signup and view all the answers
What is one consequence of low-density housing design in neighborhoods?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a common challenge faced by schools in segregated neighborhoods?
Signup and view all the answers
Which environmental factor is associated with poor health outcomes in low-income neighborhoods?
Signup and view all the answers
In the context of population health, which factor is highlighted as crucial for understanding health patterns?
Signup and view all the answers
What is one effect of 'food apartheid' in low-income communities?
Signup and view all the answers
Which term refers to a mismatch between job opportunities and where low-income households reside?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following benefits can greenspaces provide to communities?
Signup and view all the answers
What is primarily responsible for shaping perceptions of racial differences, according to the content?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following best explains the 'Curse of Ham' and its implications in society?
Signup and view all the answers
What was a primary belief held by the Puritans regarding human hierarchy?
Signup and view all the answers
Which theory indicates that societal views, rather than biology, contribute to health disparities?
Signup and view all the answers
What distinguishes 'upstream' factors from 'downstream' factors in addressing health disparities?
Signup and view all the answers
What key aspect did Robert Boyle contribute regarding racial perceptions in his work?
Signup and view all the answers
What might be a significant challenge in implementing upstream solutions to health disparities?
Signup and view all the answers
How does health care spending in the United States compare to its health outcomes?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the 'social construction' of race suggest about human differences?
Signup and view all the answers
What is one consequence of allowing government power to become allied with a specific group?
Signup and view all the answers
What is personally mediated racism primarily characterized by?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following best describes institutionalized racism?
Signup and view all the answers
How does internalized racism manifest within marginalized communities?
Signup and view all the answers
What are upstream factors concerning health disparities primarily associated with?
Signup and view all the answers
Which concept highlights the adverse effects of racial interpretations on societal strength?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following illustrates the effects of differential access to medical resources by race?
Signup and view all the answers
How can theories of health inequalities be broadly defined?
Signup and view all the answers
What is primarily affected by chronic stress related to cardiovascular health?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following is a psychological consequence of not getting enough sleep?
Signup and view all the answers
Which adaptive stress response directly affects the body's energy levels?
Signup and view all the answers
What is considered a possible consequence of allostatic load?
Signup and view all the answers
Which coping strategy relies on altering one's emotional response to a stressor?
Signup and view all the answers
Which condition is least likely to be classified as a stress-related disorder?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the FFF alarm refer to in the context of stress response?
Signup and view all the answers
Which statement about natural killer (NK) cells is accurate?
Signup and view all the answers
Which model emphasizes the significance of the timing of exposures during critical periods in human development?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a major limitation of the life course theory?
Signup and view all the answers
According to the McKeown Thesis, which factor was believed to primarily contribute to population growth?
Signup and view all the answers
In the life course model, which concept focuses on the cumulative impact of exposures over time?
Signup and view all the answers
What does the pathway model in life course health emphasize?
Signup and view all the answers
Which of the following statements best describes 'agency' in the life course model?
Signup and view all the answers
Which strength of the life course theory recognizes the influence of external factors on health?
Signup and view all the answers
What is one of the primary critiques of the McKeown Thesis?
Signup and view all the answers
The concept of 'linked lives' in the life course model suggests that health outcomes are:
Signup and view all the answers
Which best describes a key characteristic of proximal causes in health outcomes?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a direct effect of food deserts on the communities they affect?
Signup and view all the answers
How does residential segregation impact housing quality in affected neighborhoods?
Signup and view all the answers
What role does the Fair Housing Act of 1968 play in addressing discrimination?
Signup and view all the answers
Which aspect of urban development typically characterizes low-density housing?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a common consequence of spatial mismatch in employment?
Signup and view all the answers
What is one disadvantage of greenspaces in urban environments?
Signup and view all the answers
Which condition is linked to lower educational outcomes in segregated neighborhoods?
Signup and view all the answers
What is a recognized effect of a poor food environment in low-income communities?
Signup and view all the answers
What demographic characteristic is often targeted by the tobacco and alcohol industries?
Signup and view all the answers
How do economic issues contribute to food apartheid in urban areas?
Signup and view all the answers
Study Notes
Race & Social Construction
- Race is not based on biological differences, but rather on the meaning society gives to what is believed to make people different.
- Racial categories are created through a social and historical process called racial formation.
- Puritains, who arrived in the U.S. in the 1630s, believed in a human hierarchy influenced by Aristotle.
Justifications for Racial Hierarchy
- Climate theory: Rooted in Christianity, this theory asserted a "God ordained hierarchy" with "Heavenly Master," "Earthy Master," and "Enslaved" categories. It influenced the perception of slavery upon the arrival of slave ships in 1609.
- Curse of Ham: Based on Genesis 9:18-29, this theory claims Ham was cursed by his father, Noah, for seeing him naked, leading to the belief that African Americans are descendants of Ham and cursed by God. This contributed to segregation and racism.
- Robert Boyle, born in 1627, studied human pigmentation and concluded in 1664 that while pigmentation is skin deep, black skin is inferior. This influenced Sir Isaac Newton's views on whiteness as the standard.
Upstream vs. Downstream Factors in Health Disparities
- Upstream factors focus on prevention, stopping health problems from occurring or worsening. Examples include screenings, vaccines, and policies.
- Downstream factors focus on treating existing health problems through antibiotics, surgery, and other medical interventions.
Gardener's Tale Analogy
- The Gardener represents the government, possessing power to decide, act, and control resources.
- The danger arises when the government aligns with one group and disregards equity.
Types of Racism
- Racism: A system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on social perceptions of appearance, unfairly disadvantaging some individuals and communities while unfairly advantaging others.
- Institutionalized racism: Unequal access to societal goods, services, and opportunities based on race, impacting areas like housing, education, employment, medical access, and environmental exposure.
- Personally mediated racism: Differential assumptions and actions based on racial prejudice and discrimination, such as police brutality, surveillance while shopping, and teacher devaluation.
- Internalized racism: Acceptance by stigmatized races of negative messages about their abilities and worth, leading to self-devaluation and feelings of resignation, helplessness, and hopelessness.
Theories of Health Inequalities
- Theories aim to explain social interactions, structures, and create testable propositions (hypotheses).
- Stress refers to the disruption of the body's equilibrium, caused by physical, psychological, or social factors. It can be short-term or chronic.
Allostasis and Allostatic Load
- Allostasis: The body's adaptation process to acute stress, involving the release of stress hormones.
- Allostatic load: The negative impact on the body due to prolonged adaptation to adverse situations, leading to conditions like heart attack, strokes, and death.
Stress and its Health Implications
- Stress can cause immune suppression, increasing vulnerability to tumor cells and affecting cancer risk.
- Chronic stress increases blood pressure and atherosclerosis, leading to heart attacks or strokes.
- Sleep deprivation, a consequence of stress, interferes with learning, causes hallucinations, anxiety, and impacts metabolism and hormone secretion.
Coping Mechanisms for Stress
- Problem-focused coping: Aims to change the environment causing stress through active coping, planning, and seeking social support.
- Emotion-focused coping: Focuses on changing emotional responses to stressors, using techniques like venting and mental disengagement.
- Thought suppression: Intentionally avoiding thinking about the stressor, which can lead to a rebound effect.
- FFF alarm: A stress response that can be alleviated through breathing exercises.
Social Systems and Illness Experience
- Social systems refer to interconnected relationships between individuals, groups, and institutions.
- Individuals with illnesses face the burden of managing the disease and navigating social stigma.
- Contested illnesses are conditions that sufferers claim to have but are often not recognized by physicians, such as chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, and fibromyalgia.
Social Construction of Illness and Medical Knowledge
- Illness is socially constructed, shaped by how individuals give meaning to their experiences and manage their daily lives. This perspective can inform policy reforms.
- Medical knowledge also reflects social constructs, potentially perpetuating inequalities and influencing how biological diseases are interpreted.
Stigma
- Stigma involves labeling, stereotyping, separation, status loss, and discrimination, often rooted in power dynamics.
- Functions of stigma include exploitation, enforcement of social norms, and avoidance of disease.
- Addressing stigma involves raising awareness, improving attitudes, encouraging disclosure, and promoting anti-stigma engagement.
Built Environment and Health
- Built environment encompasses human-made surroundings, including buildings, streets, homes, infrastructure, and open spaces.
- Five features of place that impact health include physical characteristics, available healthy environments, support services, sociocultural features, and reputation.
Historical Context of Residential Segregation
- In 1867, San Francisco prohibited specific land uses in certain districts, marking the beginning of land-use zoning.
- The Civil Rights Act of 1875 aimed to prevent racial segregation.
- In the 1880s and 1890s, Jim Crow segregation and the Plessy v. Ferguson case upheld racial segregation laws as constitutional.
- The Fair Housing Act of 1968 aimed to prevent discrimination in housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and family status.
Impact of Residential Segregation on Health
- Segregation has a significant impact on health, contributing to disparities in neighborhood quality, access to medical care, education, employment, and overall health outcomes.
Neighborhood Design and Impact
- Conventional development often features low density, low connectivity, single-use zoning, and dependence on cars.
- Low density housing, characterized by larger lots and homes, is often more recent.
Neighborhood and Housing Quality
- Segregated areas often experience disinvestment, leading to lower housing quality, exposure to environmental hazards, and fewer commercial enterprises in these communities.
- The tobacco and alcohol industries target poor minority communities with marketing efforts.
Food Environments and Food Deserts
- Food deserts describe areas with limited access to affordable and healthy food, affecting over 23 million people in the US.
- Food deserts and food apartheid contribute to poorer diets, increased obesity, and related illnesses.
- Economic factors contribute to the lack of access to healthy options, prioritizing affluent buyers and de-retailing urban cores.
Greenspace and its Impact on Health
- Greenspace offers numerous health benefits, including reduced mortality, improved cardiovascular health, and better air quality.
- Despite the benefits, two-thirds of US children live far from parks.
- Green spaces can sometimes face pushback due to concerns about property values and location.
Built Environment Considerations for Planetary Health
- Built environment affects the impact of events like wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat.
Education and Employment in Segregated Areas
- Schools in segregated areas are often funded through property taxes, leading to discrepancies in resources and educational outcomes.
- Students may experience lower test scores, limited curriculum, and less qualified teachers.
- Employment opportunities may be limited due to spatial mismatch (distance between where people live and job opportunities) and skills mismatch (lack of necessary knowledge and skills for available positions).
Population Health
- Population health focuses on influencing factors that affect the health of populations across the lifespan.
- The goal is to identify systematic variations in health patterns and use this knowledge to develop policies and interventions to improve health and well-being.
Race
- Race is a social construct, not based on biological characteristics, but on societal beliefs and treatment.
- The meaning of race is determined by how society defines differences between groups.
- The idea of racial hierarchy was developed by the Puritans in the 1630s.
- The Puritans believed in a human hierarchy influenced by Aristotle where they were at the top.
- The Curse of Ham, from Genesis 9:18-29, was used to justify racial hierarchy, claiming African Americans to be descendants of Ham, who were cursed by his father, Noah.
- Robert Boyle, influenced by these beliefs, published "Nature of Whiteness and Blackness" in 1664, stating that Black skin is inferior.
Creation of Race
- Racial formation refers to the social and historical process of creating racial categories.
Justifications for Racial Inequality
- The climate theory, rooted in Christianity, supported the idea of a divinely ordained hierarchy, with masters and enslaved people.
- The Curse of Ham justified slavery and racism, suggesting genetic inferiority.
Health Disparities
- Social factors, not medical care, are the primary drivers of health disparities.
- The United States has the highest healthcare spending but ranks low internationally on health measures.
- Medical care accounts for only 10-15% of preventable deaths, with 50% attributed to behaviors shaped by social factors.
Upstream and Downstream Factors
- Upstream factors focus on prevention, like screenings, vaccines, and policies.
- Downstream factors are curative, focusing on treating existing health problems, like antibiotics, surgery, and medical interventions.
Solutions to Health Disparities
- Upstream solutions involve substantial investments, coordinated efforts across diverse groups, and long-term planning.
- Downstream solutions are more immediate and straightforward, but less focused on prevention.
The Gardener's Tale
- This allegory compares the government to a gardener, having the power to decide, act, and control resources.
- It highlights the dangers of uneven resource distribution and favoring certain groups.
Racism
- Racism is a system that structures opportunities and assigns value based on appearance, unfairly disadvantaging some and advantaging others.
- Institutionalized racism involves differential access to societal goods and services based on race, affecting housing, education, employment, income, healthcare, environmental toxins, and information access.
- Personally mediated racism involves prejudice and discrimination based on racial assumptions.
- Internalized racism refers to the acceptance of negative messages about one's own abilities and worth.
Relevant Exam Content
- Theories used to justify racism
- Systems that structure opportunities based on appearance
- Causes of health disparities
- Key figures in the creation of social categories
- Upstream versus downstream factors
- Levels of racism in the Gardener's Tale
- Terms: racial formation, race, racism
Theories of Health Inequalities
- Theories in sociology are used to explain social structures and behaviors, and to create testable hypotheses.
- Fundamental causes refer to structural factors that influence access to goods, services, and power, while proximal causes are immediate factors responsible for specific outcomes.
Fundamental Causes
- Segregation, particularly residential segregation, shapes socioeconomic conditions and access to opportunities, impacting health outcomes.
McKeown Thesis
- This theory suggests that improved standards of living, not medical advances, were responsible for population growth.
- It has been discredited due to misinterpretations of results, underplaying the role of clean water and milk, and failing to emphasize the importance of medical interventions and social conditions.
Exam Content
- Understanding the difference between fundamental and proximal causes
- Applying various health inequality theories
- Defining "theory"
Life Course Theory
- This theory suggests that experiences throughout life, especially during critical periods, influence future health.
- Health disparities extend beyond genetic or behavioral choices, and encompass cumulative experiences.
- It allows for identifying the timing of events that shape health and provides mechanisms for studying cumulative experiences.
Life Course Model
- Comprises lifespan development, agency, time and place, timing, and linked lives:
- Lifespan development: Human development is a lifelong process, not limited to specific stages.
- Agency: Individuals have the ability to make choices and act within their contexts.
- Time and place: Each life course is embedded in specific historical contexts.
- Timing: Events and behaviors have different effects depending on when they occur.
- Linked lives: Individuals are connected and influence each other through relationships.
Key Life Course Concepts
- Sensitive period model: Focuses on the timing and impact of exposures.
- Accumulation model: Focuses on the accumulation of exposures over time.
- Pathway model: Focuses on how events at one point in life can indirectly impact later risks.
- Social mobility model: Examines how socioeconomic status affects health risks and behaviors.
Life Course Model Strengths and Weaknesses
- Strengths: comprehensive perspective, longitudinal focus, consideration of contexts, interdisciplinary approaches.
- Weaknesses: complexity, measurement issues, limited consideration of non-normative events, predictive power.
Stress
- A general response to stimuli that disrupt the body's balance (equilibrium).
- Stressors can be physical, psychological, social, short-term, or chronic.
Allostasis and Allostatic Load
- Allostasis refers to the body's adaptation to acute stress through stress hormone release.
- Allostatic load is the long-term cost of adapting to adverse conditions, contributing to health problems like heart attacks, strokes, and death.
Adaptive Stress Response
- Initially provides benefits like increased energy, cardiovascular function, and sharpened cognition.
- However, prolonged stress can lead to negative consequences.
Stress-Related Disorders
- Prolonged stress can contribute to fatigue, diabetes, hypertension, ulcers, and cognitive impairment.
Stress and Specific Health Issues
- Stress weakens the immune system, potentially leading to immune suppression.
- While stress itself doesn't cause cancer, it can contribute to cancer progression.
- Chronic stress leads to high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.
- Sleep deprivation disrupts learning, causes hallucinations, anxiety, metabolic changes, and hormonal imbalances.
Coping Mechanisms
- Problem-focused coping involves changing the stressor.
- Emotion-focused coping focuses on changing the emotional response to the stressor.
- Thought suppression attempts to avoid thinking about the stressor, but often results in a rebound effect.
FFF Alarm
- Relieved through breathing exercises.
Social Systems
- A patterned network of relationships between individuals, groups, and institutions.
- The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, national origin, sex, disability, and family status.
Residential Segregation and Health
- Impacts: neighborhood/housing, medical care, health, education, employment, and segregation.
Neighborhood Design
- Conventional development promotes low density, low connectivity, single-use areas, and dependence on automobiles.
- Low-density housing, with larger lot sizes and homes, is more recent.
Neighborhood and Housing Quality
- Segregated neighborhoods tend to have lower quality housing due to disinvestment, exposure to harmful agents, and fewer commercial enterprises.
Food Environments
- Food deserts are areas with limited access to affordable, healthy food, affecting over 23 million Americans.
- Food deserts and food apartheid are linked to poorer diets, higher obesity rates, and related illnesses.
- Fast food outlets are more prevalent in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
Greenspace
- Benefits: reducing premature mortality, improving cardiovascular risk factors, and improving air quality.
- Disadvantages: impacting property values and location.
Built Environment and Planetary Health
- Considers the effects of wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat.
Education and Employment
- Schools are often funded through property taxes, leading to disparities in educational resources.
- Educational outcomes are often lower in segregated areas.
- Spatial and skills mismatches occur when job opportunities are located far from low-income neighborhoods or require skills that are not readily available.
Population Health
- An approach that focuses on factors that influence the health of populations over their life course, identifies variations in health patterns, and uses this knowledge to implement policies and actions to improve health and well-being.
Studying That Suits You
Use AI to generate personalized quizzes and flashcards to suit your learning preferences.
Related Documents
Description
Explore the social constructs surrounding race and the historical justifications for racial hierarchies. This quiz delves into theories, such as climate theory and the Curse of Ham, and their impact on societal perceptions of race. Test your understanding of how these ideas have shaped historical and contemporary views.
