Health concepts

Question 1

Liu, King, and Bearman (2010) find that “children
living very close to a child previously diagnosed with
autism are more likely to be diagnosed with autism.”
In the Discussion, they argue that the cause of this is
parents proselytizing autism. Why is this a problem?

Answer 1

Because subsequent authors have cited it as a finding, thereby reifying it.

Question 2

In my research in Costa Rica, what did I find with
regard to parents spreading information about
autism?

Answer 2

They seem to occasionally try, but it is overwhelmingly ineffective at
changing other parents’ help-seeking behaviors.

Question 3

This American Life’s “Psycho Dabble” is a reminder of
an old era in psychiatry. In what way?

Answer 3

In some realms, psychiatrists continue to have outsized authority about
an individual’s condition, much like the way Eyal (2013) described in 1940s autism
work.

Question 4

Maralani (2014) uses Add Health data to consider risk
of initiating smoking among adolescents and young
adults. What do they find?

Answer 4

Future educational attainment predicts smoking risk in adolescents but
not after age 19

Question 5

Why are health behaviors so difficult to study?

Answer 5

Because we mostly have to rely on survey research, and surveys aren’t a
great venue for getting people to confide about their good and bad behaviors.

Question 6

Help-seeking behavior is a concept that describes…

Answer 6

…how and when we seek out medical help.