Exam 1 Health/Illness
Of the following, which is the most important cause of maternal mortality in less developed nations?
unsterile abortion
Researchers increasingly use big data because it
All of these are correct.
Which of the following reframes this "personal trouble" into a "public issue" that a critical sociologist studying health, illness, and health care would be likely to study? "Debora was a 38-year-old Black woman who gave birth to a healthy baby girl. After the delivery, Debora experienced excessive blood loss, and died 2 hours later."
Black women are 3-4 times more likely to die during childbirth, and some scholars believe it is because they have higher rates of poverty and less access to health care/pre-natal care, which leads to a variety of health problems that increase risk during childbirth.
Which of the following is true?
Qualitative data is particularly useful for helping us understand how people think about their lives.
Which of the following statements is true?
Social policies, including a prohibition of needle-exchange programs, has led to an increase in infectious diseases.
Because racial categories are biologically fixed, they have not changed in any meaningful way over the past several hundred years.
false
True or False: Morbidity refers to death
false
African Americans with kidney disease are more likely to die than whites with the disease because
fewer African Americans are referred to transplant programs.
The primary measure of a country's development level is its
gross national income per capita.
The best way to reduce infant mortality is to
increase women's social status.
Which of the following is LEAST LIKELY to be able to effect global health?
the citizens of the state of California, where 8 of the 10 most polluted cities in the United States are located
In a "risk society," individuals often find it difficult to get acknowledgement that they suffer from an illness because
the doctors they have access to work for the corporations that in some way caused the illness.
Paying for health care for the elderly will likely become more difficult in coming years because of
the feminization of aging.
True or False: From an epidemiological perspective, alcohol is more dangerous than heroin and other illicit drugs.
true
Most deaths caused by malaria occur among
children in Africa.
According to the sociological model of illness, illness is a
All of these are correct.
Which of the following is an underlying assumption of functionalism?
Society is a smoothly-working, integrated whole.
Which of the following is true?
The American population is steadily growing older.
What percentage of new HIV infections among adults occurs in sub-Saharan Africa?
about 66 percent
Women typically drink less alcohol than men do and therefore have lower rates of alcohol-related health problems. This is an example of how _____ can influence health outcomes. However, studies have found that the rate of alcohol use by women is increasing, which is an example of _____.
gender; gender convergence
Women have lower rates of heart disease in part because their bodies produce more estrogen than do men's bodies. This is an example of
sex differences.
Explanations for illness that emphasize individual blame have
encouraged policy makers to ignore social and environmental causes of illness.
Corporate decisions to locate polluting industries in minority neighborhoods are referred to as
environmental racism.
The primary cause of low life expectancy in the less developed nations is
poverty.
According to sociologists, doctors are
social control agents.
The increased use of vaccinations usually precedes the epidemiological transition and explains why deaths caused by acute diseases decrease in nations that are post-transition.
false
True or False: People who are obese are less healthy and have greater rates or morbidity and mortality, even when fit, than people who are underweight.
false
Which of the following is a contested illness?
fibromyalgia
Which of the following is true?
Hispanic Americans are less likely than white non-Hispanics to have health insurance.
Two individuals have identical annual incomes but are in different social classes. Which of the following would NOT help to explain this difference?
One individual smokes cigarettes, but the other individual does not
Across history, people have most commonly believed that illness was
a deserved punishment for bad behavior.
The history of disease before the 1900s suggests that
changes in women's roles can play a large role in increasing average life expectancy.
What is the most common cause of premature death in the United States?
diet / activity patterns
According to the medical model of illness,
doctors around the world generally reach the same diagnosis when confronted with the same symptoms.
The history of ADHD as a "disease" shows that
drug companies can play an important role in medicalization
The idea that illness leads to poverty more often than poverty leads to illness is known as
social drift theory
The idea of global health
All of these are correct
Based on the Health Belief Model, which of the following individuals is most likely to make a healthy change?
A 68-year-old woman believes she is at risk for Alzheimer's disease. She is scared of not remembering her children and grandchildren and is scared of death. Her doctor tells her that engaging in memory activities will help reduce her risk. Her children live nearby and are happy to come over daily to help.
Which of the following is NOT a negative outcome caused by a power differential between two groups?
A doctor has had insufficient sleep due to his schedule at the hospital and accidentally gives a patient two medications that end up causing a rare but life threatening interaction, leaving the patient gravely ill.
Which of the following is true?
Access to abortion has declined during the last decade.
Which of the following can be important supporters of medicalization?
All of these are correct
Social networks
All of these are correct.
The spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa is a result of
All of these are correct.
Which of the following is a qualitative study?
Because nurses spend so much time with patients, a critical sociologist wants to know whether doctors value their input on patient treatment plans or feel challenged when nurses try to give their input.
A deaf mother gives birth to a child who is also deaf. When a doctor suggests that she have her child undergo surgery to restore hearing, she refuses. Which of the following would explain the mother's refusal to have her child undergo the surgery from a sociological model of illness perspective?
Deafness has been defined as an illness because it is a deviation from "normal" by doctors; however, this ignores the deaf community as culturally distinct and their definition of deafness as a normal experience.
The low status of women in many developing nations increases the rate of infant mortality. Is this an example of how sex effects infant mortality or an example of how gender effects infant mortality? Why?
Gender: The low status of women in a society is a social value placed on women, which decrease women's agency over their lives.
Based on what you have learned about the sociological perspective and critical sociologists, which of the following theories explaining healthful decision making do you think critical sociologists would be more likely to support, and why?
Health lifestyle theory: It emphasizes the importance of institutions and social structures in a person's life when they make choices.
"A woman works in a retail store and has been experience extreme tiredness for months. When she goes to her doctor, he diagnoses her with chronic fatigue syndrome. Her doctor has prescribed her anti-depressants, exercise, and therapy, all of which she engages in. She continues to go to work; however, because she does not complete tasks quickly enough, her boss fires her. At her exit interview, her boss explains that all of his employees are tired and that not sleeping is no excuse to not do her job well." Which of the elements of the sick role did she violate?
Her boss did not believe she had a legitimate illness nor a legitimate reason to not accomplish her tasks more quickly.
Health statistics about Native Americans that include individuals who do not live on tribal lands can be misleading because they do not have the same cultural ties. Why are "cultural ties" important when considering health statistics on Native Americans?
Native Americans that live on tribal lands face unique problems associated with poverty and race-related stressors, which will affect how inequality accumulates over their lifetime and, ultimately, their cumulative stress burden.
A sociologist is studying patient-doctor interactions and makes the following conclusion: "Overall, when men complained about pain, doctors were significantly more likely to prescribe pain medications than when women did. Doctors were more likely to encourage lifestyle changes, such as exercise, to alleviate pain for women. This suggests that doctors are more likely to consider the complaints of men to be "valid," whereas the complaints made by women were seen as less severe, and as such, were taken less seriously." Is this research an example of "sociology in medicine" or "sociology of medicine"? Why?
Sociology of medicine: In society broadly, women have less power than men; this study suggests that the health care system reinforces this differential between men and women.
Which of the following is true about toxic agents?
Toxic agents are contributing to climate change.
Imagine that you are trying to research whether having a female doctor leads to better health outcomes for women. You are interested in trends in the whole population. You find the following five sources. Which of the following sources do you believe is best for your purposes?
a peer-reviewed journal article in the New England Journal of Medicine that used big data in order to combine datasets on all doctors in a particular state, all women in a particular state, which doctor each woman saw, and health outcomes
In general, rates better measure how common an illness is than do raw numbers because rates
allow us to reasonably compare populations of different sizes.
Fundamental-cause theory argues that
across societies, those with the fewest resources are most likely to fall ill.
Men are most likely to batter their wives if they
believe their power within the family is threatened.
Social stress
can cause mental as well as physical illness.
According to most scholars, life expectancy in the United States increased dramatically after 1900 because of
changes in nutrition and living conditions.
HIV/AIDS is especially common in Africa in part because of high rates of
concurrent sexual partners
Diarrheal diseases in less developed nations are primarily caused by
contaminated food and water.
Of the following, which currently causes the most deaths in the less-developed nations?
coronary heart disease
Illness is considered dysfunctional from a conflict perspective because it undermines social stability.
false
In the 19th century, medical textbooks generally described masturbation as a sign of illness. Modern textbooks, however, do not. This is an example of
demedicalization.
Fill in the blanks in order to correctly identify the relationship between key words: "A(n)_________ can be triggered when individuals travel from one location to another, bringing diseases that are _________ in their countries but are non-existent in others. As the disease spreads further and encompasses more countries, it becomes ________."
epidemic; endemic ; a pandemic
The study of the distribution of disease among a population is referred to as
epidemiology.
Fill in the blanks: "In order to limit society's exposure to HIV, some scholars (such as public health workers) study where HIV cases are most likely to be diagnosed, which is also known as the _______ of HIV. These scholars would likely refer to HIV as ______ because they are most concerned with the potential deadliness of HIV. Alternatively, a sociologist that is studying why African Americans contract HIV at higher rates than White Americans is said to be engaging in _____ and would likely refer to HIV as ______."
epidemiology; a disease; social epidemiology; an illness
"Scienciness" has made difficult, dense scientific findings and evidence more readily available to the public in a way that is accurate and much more easily digestible.
false
Because critical sociologists that study medicine often explain the experience of patients, all of their work must be qualitative.
false
Homicide is one of the top 10 causes of death for Hispanic Americans.
false
Early 19th century doctors argued that cholera typically attacked only individuals who
had weakened their bodies through improper living.
Research suggests that
having a gun in the home significantly increases the odds of homicide.
A man who works out daily at the gym and who regards his regular exercise as part of his identify can be said to have a
health project.
Sociology of medicine refers to the study of how social factors affect
health, illness, and health care, raising questions that sociologists, but not necessarily doctors, consider important.
Compared to earlier in this century, the American population now has a
higher percentage of elderly persons.
Which of the following research projects best reflects a sociological perspective?
how prejudice against Native Americans can foster high rates of alcoholism among Native Americans
A student is classifying countries by their stage of epidemiological transition. Country A has the following characteristics: the average per capita income is approximately $14,000, almost $6,000 more than it was 10 years ago; there are above average numbers of deaths from the flu and measles each year than in other countries; however, because these deaths have been decreasing in recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in life expectancy from 44 to 56 in the last 15 years. In addition, heart disease is now the primary cause of death for individuals in the middle and upper classes. Which transition stage best fits? Why?
in transition: Although there are many more deaths from acute diseases than in other nations, those are decreasing, whereas chronic conditions are increasing; these large changes suggest that Country A is currently experiencing the epidemiological transition.
Before 1900, the most common causes of death in the United States were
infectious diseases.
Which of the following diseases would be better measured by an incidence rate than a prevalence rate?
influenza
The concept of an epigenetic effect suggests that genes
interact with the environment to cause or avoid causing an illness
The infant mortality rate among African Americans
is higher than among whites even if we look only at the middle and upper classes.
Fill in the blanks: According to epidemiological transition, ______ nations—which have high rates of poverty, shorter life expectancies, and higher infant mortality rates—are the most likely type of nation to be ______, and as such, many ______ diseases are leading causes of death.
least developed; pre-transition; acute
The belief that illness is caused by sin is especially evident in the history of
leprosy.
Of the following, which is the most important cause of infant mortality in less developed nations
malnutrition and infection
As a result of anti-malaria pesticide campaigns in the less developed nations,
many mosquitoes have become resistant to pesticides.
Fill in the blanks: Through the process of _____, pregnancy has shifted from a normal life experience for women into a medical condition. In doing so, the medical ____, which is comprised of doctors, hospitals, and the cultural acceptance of the _____to explain illness as ONLY a biological reality that is not affected by society, has extended its ____ over pregnant women, using both formal and informal methods to coerce these women to change their lifestyles in order to ensure a "healthy" pregnancy.
medicalization; institution; medical model of illness; social control.
Compared to other sociologists, critical sociologists place greater emphasis on the role played by
power
Research suggests that
men's higher mortality rate in part reflects their traditional gender role.
Exposure to environmental pollution is most highly correlated with which of the following factors?
race
Intimate partner violence
serves as a form of social control
The percentage of persons living in the United States who have epilepsy is best referred to as
the prevalence of epilepsy.
Medicalization refers to
the process of defining a condition or behavior as an illness.
Chronic malnutrition in the less developed nations can best be explained by
the social distribution of food and other resources
Those who frame their research questions in terms of public issues, rather than personal troubles, can be said to use
the sociological perspective.
Even though children in India are consuming enough calories to sustain healthy growth, 65 million children remain malnourished.
true
Even though more than 25% of the world's 7.7 billion people are potentially exposed to neglected tropical diseases, there is little interest in developing and distributing treatments and vaccines because these are perceived as non-profitable.
true
In every country, for every racial/ethnic group, for every age, and across gender and sex lines, individuals with higher social class have better health outcomes.
true
Most well structured research studies suggest that there are few (if any) long term consequences for children if their mothers use drugs during pregnancy.
true
One primary difference between functionalist and conflict sociologists who study health and illness is who they choose to study: To a functionalist, "deviants" with illness need to be studied in order to control dysfunction that would undermine social stability; alternatively, a conflict theorist believes that both deviants AND social control agents should be studied
true
Sociologists in medicine are more likely than sociologists of medicine to accept the assumptions and beliefs of doctors.
true
Some countries that are transitioning from "less developed" to "more developed" nations and economies have a greater disease variation—fledgling middle and upper class individuals suffer from chronic conditions, whereas the poor continue to suffer from acute ones.
true
True or False: All else equal, an African American woman has a higher cumulative stress burden than a White woman.
true
