Medical Sociology Exam #2

What is the "intra-racial network effect?"

It suggests that segregation contributes to the high rate of STDs in the black population.

________ has been found to make women particularly vulnerable to psychological distress.

Lack of control

What is NOT a category of social structural variables that have the potential to shape health lifestyles?

Languages/linguistics

_______ refers to the choices that people have in the lifestyles they wish to adopt.

Life conduct

_______ suggested that a person's social class position is determined exclusively by his or her degree of access to a society's means of production.

Marx

Symbolic interactionism is based upon the work of _______ (founder).

Mead

According to the World Health Organization, we are currently living in the _______ era.

Post-medical

The extent of physiological damage or change within an individual in response to stress depends on

all of the above

Goffman believed that in order for social interaction to be possible, people need information about the others in a joint act. Such information is communicated through

all of the above.

What is the "fertility rate"?

The number of births per women of childbearing age.

An important facet of health behavior includes contact by healthy people with physicians and other health personnel for preventive care.

True

There is evidence to show that health lifestyles emphasizing exercise, healthy diet, and avoidance of unhealthy habits such as drugs, alcohol, and smoking are spreading across class boundaries in Western society.

True

Women tend to suffer from more frequent illnesses and disability, but their usual health disorders are not as serious or as life threatening as those encountered by men.

True

The ______ hypothesis asserts that African-Americans are more prone to diseases such as pyelonephritis and syphilis that may result in secondary hypertension.

associated disorder

The _______ system controls heart rate, blood pressure, and gastrointestinal functions: processes that are not under the control of the central nervous system.

autonomic nervous

Weber maintains that life _______ is influenced by life chances.

choices

In 2008, a nationwide study of mortality in the United States revealed that life expectancy for part of the nation's women had ______ significantly between 1983 and 1999.

decreased

Which of the following trends is most likely to strain health care delivery systems and Social Security system in future years

Increasing proportion of elderly in the population.

_______ suicide occurs when people suffer a sudden dislocation of normative systems where their norms and values are no longer relevant, so that controls of society no longer restrain them from taking their lives.

Anomic

By 2030 it is projected that _______ of all Americans will be 65 or older.

20%

What is the likely the most powerful influence on lifestyle forms?

Class circumstances.

What are collections of actors linked together through particular relationships, such as kinship, work, religion, and politics?

Collectivities

Besides the type of change and the speed with which it occurs, the extent to which change affects a person's life may also be important. Libby Ruch (1977) investigated this over 30 years ago and suggested that life change actually has three dimensions. Which is NOT a dimension?

Depth of change expected

_________ is the notion that the more distant a person is from economic necessity, the more freedom and time that person has to develop and refine personal tastes in line with a more privileged class status.

Distance from necessity

Many elderly rate their health as good despite the health problems that often accompany aging. What does this phenomenon suggest about the usefulness of self-rated heath as a tool to measure health? (A)It is not accurate and probably should not be used. (B)Just surviving to old age free of serious illness or disability is evidence of good health. (C)The elderly are able to perceive their health as good if they can perform their usual daily activities successfully. (D)Both A and B (E)Both B and C

E

Brenner formulated the concept of the "fight or flight" pattern of physiological change to illustrate how the body copes with stress resulting from a social situation.

False

Health behavior is the activity undertaken by sick people to regain their health.

False

People typically flee in panic from the site of a potential disaster (natural/unnatural) area.

False

The adverse health situation of black Americans identifies a pattern that is generally produced by biological, not socioeconomic factors.

False

Typically, older people rate their health in a negative fashion.

False

What is a class-based set of durable dispositions to act in particular ways that shape particular facets of health lifestyles?

Habitus

What is defined as activity undertaken by individuals for the purpose of maintaining or enhancing their health, preventing health problems, or achieving a positive body image?

Health behavior

Medical sociologists divide health-oriented behavior into two general categories: ________ behavior and _______ behavior.

Health; illness.

________ is the leading cause of death for women after age 66

Heart disease

Which Racial/Ethnic group is most likely to use hospital emergency rooms as their primary source of medical services?

Hispanics

Brenner offers two hypotheses to explain the relationship between the economy and mental health. What are they?

Provocation and uncovering

Compared to women, men usually have substantial health inferiority in terms of life expectancy because of the combination of two major effects: biological and _______ effects.

Social-Psychological

The symbolic interactionist perspective, as outlined by Cooley, Thomas, and Goffman asserts that

Stress can result from an individual's perception of the meaning of a situation.

The _______ generated by the habitus produce lifestyle practices for individuals that are similar to those of other people in their social class and distinctive from people in other classes, according to Bourdieu

dispositions

Research suggests that the _______ hypothesis and the psychological stress hypothesis contribute the most to providing an answer for the higher prevalence of hypertension in blacks, since blacks in general have higher rates of hypertension than whites.

genetic

As Crawford points out, there has been a growing recognition of positive health behaviors, facilitated by

mass media

The importance of Emile Durkheim's work for understanding stress lies in his

notion of the capability of society to create situations where people are forced to respond to conditions not of their own choosing

Health lifestyles activities typically take place _______ the health care delivery system.

outside

Putnam defines _______ as a community-level resource reflected in social relationships involving networks, but also norms, and levels of trust.

social capital

As members of society, individuals are constrained in their behavior by laws and customs. These constraints are ______.

social facts

Morbidity is:

the sickness rate