Lecture 2: Sociological Perspectives Flashcards
sociological reserch questions
Impact of social circumstances on state of mind
sociological outcomes of interest
- Measurements of mental health and illness
- Broader community samples
- Outcomes depend on the question of interest
The Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)
The CES-D is one of the most common sociological scales for measuring mental well-being
Benefits of the CES-D
- It’s quick
- It’s standardized
- It’s easy to understand
- It’s efficient to collect data this way
Criticisms of the CES-D
- It’s overly subjective
- People underreport their symptoms
- They don’t capture all of the signs/symptoms of depression
- It’s culturally biased
- They don’t necessarily measure a specific type of mental illness; it’s more of a generalized measure of well-being.
underlying causes of sociological approaches
- Social life and organization (stressors, discrimination, relationships, roles, work)
- Outside the individual
underlying causes of biomedical approaches
- General/neurophysiological processes (some sort of underlying pathology)
- Within the individual
outcomes of interests in sociological approaches
- Generalized distress
- Medicalization of behaviours
outcomes of interests in biomedical approaches
Specific disorder
target populations of sociological approaches
Communities
target populations of biomedical approaches
Individuals, generally with the most severe conditions
measurement of sociological approaches
Scales; survey questionnaires (CES-D)
measurement of biomedical approaches
DSM; discrete categories
treatment in sociological appraoches
Change social environment (ex. Alter circumstances)
treatment in biomedical approaches
Pharmaceuticals (ex. Adjust brain chemistry)
