Lecture 9: Physical and Mental Health Flashcards
1
Q
SES and health outcomes [10]
A
- British civil servants study; how can we explain this?
- More money means more access to good medical care?
- But Britain has universal healthcare, so this should be equal
- Lower SES people in jobs that are more hazardous?
- But even in the same job → still showed SES health pattern
- Lower SES → cultural contexts more encouraging of unhealthy habits?
- But even when different levels of unhealthy behaviours are controlled for, there’s still a clear relationship
- Best explanation: lower SES people experience greater stress
- They’re more vigilant to threat b/c they’re experiencing more threats on a day-to-day basis
- → b/c of a lack of control over what they’re doing (lower in status hierarchy, being told what to do)
2
Q
acute stress [3]
A
- Short term stress most people experience every day
- Necessary + adaptive for us to survive
- Not related to negative health outcomes, it’s about how you recover
3
Q
chronic stress [1]
A
- Stress that is constant and persists over time + related to negative health outcomes
4
Q
objective vs. subjective SES [2]
A
- relative deprivation: Knowing that others around you are doing better than you + perceiving deficiency in relation to these people
- More egalitarian societies = lower relation between health and social class
5
Q
Curhan et al. (a) [9]
(hint: relative deprivation + health)
A
- Differences in objective vs. subjective perceptions of wealth + impacts on wellbeing in USA vs. Japan
- Hypothesis: individualist cultures → subjective feelings more important b/c your self-focussed perceptions are more important
- Collectivist cultures → objective feelings more important b/c that’s what people can see
- Objective social status: education attainment level
- Subjective social status: community ladder → “At the bottom are the people who have the lowest standing in their community. Where would you place yourself on this ladder?”
- Well-being: 8 scales of well-being
- Results: subjective perceptions are more important for both cultures
- But subjective more important for USA
- And objective still more important to Japanese
6
Q
negative affect [3]
A
- Differences in the way negative affect is viewed across cultures
- Western cultures: negative emotions construed as internal entities and are the individuals responsibility
- Eastern cultures: negative emotions construed as situational and grounded in specific relationships
7
Q
Curhan et al. (b) [7]
(hint: negative affect + wellbeing)
A
- How does negative affect affect wellbeing in USA vs. Japan?
- How often they had experienced negative emotions over the previous 30 days
- Physical health: number of chronic conditions, degree of functional limitations, and subjective global health
- Mental health: psychological well-being, self-esteem, and life satisfaction
- Negative affect (+)corr. w/ chronic conditions + physical functioning for both cultures
- Negatively correlated w/ global health + all mental health measures
- Correlations were stronger for USA participants + significantly stronger for chronic conditions, physical functioning, psychological wellbeing, self-esteem
8
Q
Kitayama et al. (2010) [15]
(hint: culturally-sanctioned goals)
A
- How important is achieving culturally-sanctioned goals for your wellbeing?
- Goals stem from culturally prevalent ideas and practices
- Western cultures emphasize importance of personal control
- Eastern cultures emphasize importance of relational harmony
- Measured: independence (e.g. personal mastery) + interdependence (e.g. relational harmony with family members)
- Chronic constraint: “cannot do what I want to do”
- Well-being and health
- Japanese Ps experienced more perceived restraint overall, perhaps b/c living in collectivist society prevents you from achieving your goals (insofar as they’re self-focussed)
- Higher personal control → lower perceived constraint
- Personal control (+)corr. w/ wellbeing for both
- More significant predictor among Americans vs. Japanese
- Control + sense of self as efficacious → central to independence that’s emphasized + privileged in NA
- Relational harmony also (+)corr. w/ wellbeing for both
- But relation much stronger for Japanese Ps
- Responsiveness to others + attendant social harmony → valued in Japan
9
Q
mental health + culture [7]
A
- Our environment plays an important role in the development of mental health issues
Culture determines:
- types of physical and social stressors
- types of coping mechanisms and resources to mediate stressors
- basic personality patterns (self-structure, motivation systems)
- language systems that organize perceptions + responses to reality → mental health treatments
- standards of normalcy, deviance, health
- classification patterns for various diseases and disorders
10
Q
biopsychosocial model [1]
A
11
Q
Dr. Jessica Dere on culture + mental health (TEDxUTSC) [1]
A
- Need to consider cultural factors when defining mental illness, since they’re patterns of behaviour that deviate from cultural norms
12
Q
eating disorders [4]
A
- anorexia nervosa: (Western societies) Refusing to maintain a normal body weight, be intensely fearful of gaining weight/becoming fat, deny the seriousness of one’s low body weight
- bulimia nervosa: Recurrent episodes of binge eating + induced vomiting, inappropriate behaviours to prevent weight gain
- As images of thinner women being more attractive increase
- In other parts of the world; more Western exposure → higher rates
13
Q
hikikomori [2]
A
- (Japan) Social withdraw, affected people may appear unhappy, start to lose friends, become insecure and shy
- Not being afraid to go outside, just need to get away from society
14
Q
amok [4]
A
- (Malaysia + Southeast Asia) An acute outburst of unrestrained violence, associated w/ (indiscriminate) homicidal attacks, preceded by a period of brooding + ending with exhaustion+amnesia
- Particularly among males, caused by stress, lack of sleep, alcohol
- Maybe related to passive cultures where people don’t have an outlet for their frustrations + tensions
- Maybe seen in Western countries; killings tend to be more premeditated → questionable if it’s the same psychological disorder underlying it
15
Q
kufungisisa [1]
A
- (Zimbabwe) anxiety + somatic problems stemming from mental exhaustion
