Culture and health

Question 1

Biomedical model of health

Answer 1

Views disease as resulting from a specific, idnetifiable cause, a genetic or developmental abnormality, or physical insult

Question 2

Biopsychosocial model of health

Answer 2

Views disease as resulting from biological, social, and psychological factors

Question 3

Homeostasis

Answer 3

Maintaining steady and stable body functioning during environmental changes

Question 4

Indicators of health world wide

Answer 4

• life expactancy
• infant mortality
• subective well-being

Question 5

Life expactancy

Answer 5

How old can you be?
in general, being from a wealthy context, having resources, affects this average very much
Wealth and resources affect average across and within countries

Question 6

Infant mortality

Answer 6

Number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births
- disparities among etnic groups
- differences attributed to resources (good nutrition, health care, and treatment)

Question 7

Subjective well-being

Answer 7

• perception of health and well-being
• positively related to physical health
• higher SWB = stronger immune system, fewer heart attacks, etc.
• healthier lifestyle

Question 8

Alameda county study

Answer 8

• people who had fewer contacts had a higher death rate (N=7000, 9year period)
• ethnic groups often have lower access or less affluence than the mainstream group
• perceived discrimination is associated with high blood pressure, higher cardiovascular disease. It is also related to negative pregnancy outcomes. People also have been found to biologically age faster when they experience high levels of discrimination

Question 9

Immigration on health

Answer 9

Global patterns of morbidity and mortality follow inequities rooted in societal, political, and economic conditions produced and reproduced by social structures, policies, and institutions
- connections between immigration and public health
- 1 billion migrants worldwide, 11 million undocumented in USA
- immigration policies increase stress, decrease access to health care

Question 10

Social determinations for health

Answer 10

• behavior
• culture
• structure
• perspective

Question 11

Behavioral determination for health
- bheavioral framework

Answer 11

• individual focus: responsibility, self-efficacy, etc.
• immigrant/Latino paradox
• little recognition of structural factors
• acculturation literature should include structural factors

Question 12

Cultural determination for health
- cultural framework

Answer 12

• group traits, beliefs, values, practices, or traditions, linked to race, ethnicity, or national origin
• group differences shape individual behavior
• majority ethnocentrism, minoity resilience
• stereotyping, essentialism, assuming homogeneity

Question 13

Structural determination for health
- structural framework

Answer 13

• access to health care
• immigration status, living and working conditions, deportation, detention
• focus: income, education, policies

Question 14

Perspective determination for health

Answer 14

• connect levels (individual, group, structural)
• (re-)evaluate role of choice and perceived deservingness
• castaneda et al. recommend working on: access, labor laws, path to citienship, inclusion of immigrant communities

Question 15

Immigration paradox

Answer 15

Immigrants doing better in many health measures despite the hardships
–> researchers attribute this to healthy behaviors, social support, and immigrant selectivity

Question 16

disease rates in higher individualism

Answer 16

• higher rates of malignant neoplasm and heart disease
• lower rates of infections and parasitic diseases, cerebrovascular disease

Question 17

Cultural discrepancies and physical health

Answer 17

Fit between personal and cultural values low
–> more coping required
–> depression/anxiety
–> physical health
Starting point: climate, IND/COLL and wheat/rice differences in China
Connecting cultural differences with health-relevant behaviors

Question 18

Climate demands on health

Answer 18

Theory of climatic demands postulates the extent to which winters and summers are comforting or stressfully demanding given existential needs for heat, nutrition, and health; and also the need to acclimatize and adapt to the environment
Higher climatic demands (threating ecologies) means more need for heat and access to food and resources
In temperate climates: lower climatic demands (comforting ecologies), few challenges and consequently income resources matter in predicting well-being

Question 19

Rice vs. wheat

Answer 19

• Subsistence theory (farmers/herders)
• Irrigation/cooperation versus wheat
  Modernization hypothesis (least-developed provinces = most interdependent)
  Rice theory predicts highest interdependence in the south and east
  –> rice farming is much more extensive than wheat farming

Question 20

Rice vs. wheat results

Answer 20

N = 1162, six sites
DV: triad task [Ji, Zhang, & Nisbett, 2004: review by Henrich, 2014]
Result: modernization theory fit the data worse than rice theory

Question 21

climatic demand theory

Answer 21

From harsh to mild = best (and vice versa)

Question 22

Climatic fit perspective

Answer 22

Higher deviation = worse outcomes