Week 8 - Social stressors and health

macro-social influences

large-scale social, economic, political, and cultural forces that simultaneously influence people's life course. This can include actions and policies of governments, cultures, historical legacies etc

poverty

approx. 70% of the world’s population live in low or middle income countries and half of the world’s population lack access to medial care and essential medications. Other major impacts of poverty caused by the absence of: safe water, sanitation, adequate diet, housing, basic education

socioeconomic status (SES)

measure of wealth, education, and status, for example, higher SES = better health and longer life expectancy

social capital (loneliness)

social relationships as resources. This can enforce community engagement, trust, and safety, reciprocity and diversity

gender and racial difference in health

men die earlier than women, but women have poorer health. In less developed countries, men still live longer than women. Women suffer more non-fatal illnesses and hospitalized more often, they also have double the depression rate than men. But men have higher rates of injuries, suicides, homicides and heart disease. Women experience different psychosocial and lifestyle differences such as childbirth, rape, domestic abuse, sexism, concerns about weight, work inequalities

role of stereotypes and socialization

social constructs of masculinity and femininity affect health behaviours. Men are more likely to adopt risky behaviours but women are more likely to engage in health-protective behaviours. Early childhood socialization in gender differences in skills such as toys, like girls playing with dolls engages them in stereotypically domestic-related activites

neurosexism

the assumption that differences between males and females are from brain development and biology was used to justify stereotypes

acute experiences of stress

acute stress responses via discrimination causes fight or flight and anticipate future discrimination, causing anxiety

stress overlap with SES

studies of race and health generally control for SES, and race-related differences frequently disappear after adjustment for SES

stigma

a negative perception, stereotype or mark of shame attached to a particular characteristic, behaviour or condition

stereotype threat

a fear of confirming to negative stereotypes about a group, for example, stereotypes about math ability (women) or intelligence in minority groups

threatening environments

these may be hypermasculine environments, gendered environments being non-inviting, underrepresentation of stigmatized groups in marketing

burnout

exhaustion and depletion of emotional and physical resources which can lead to pessimism (negative attitudes). This can be caused by overwhelming amount of work, feeling lack of control or large emotional component of job

ego-depletion for impacts of stress

requires high self-monitoring and prolonged suppression of emotions and behavior, impacting subsequent control. Extended stress can reduce self-control, and this leads to poor decision-making

biopsychosocial model of challenge

• Challenge response = responding well to stress (increased physiological arousal where the individual has the resources to cope)

• Threat response = responding poorly to stress (when an individual feels overwhelmed and believe they cannot handle the demands of the situation)