Health Sociology & Well-being Flashcards

An intersectional approach to studying health disparities would emphasize:

Answer: Examining race, gender, class, and other social categories as mutually reinforcing systems affecting health

Intersectionality, developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, holds that race, gender, class, sexuality, and other identities overlap and interact, producing distinct and compounded health disadvantages that cannot be understood by examining one category in isolation.

Social epidemiology differs from traditional epidemiology primarily in that it:

Answer: Focuses on how social structures and relationships shape the distribution of disease

Social epidemiology uses epidemiological methods to examine how social factors—including inequality, discrimination, and social networks—influence the pattern and distribution of health and disease in populations.

The 'weathering hypothesis,' proposed by Arline Geronimus, suggests that:

Answer: Chronic exposure to social and economic adversity accelerates biological aging in marginalized populations

Geronimus proposed that the cumulative physiological toll of persistent socioeconomic and racial adversity leads to earlier health deterioration among Black Americans compared to their white counterparts.

Mental health stigma, from a sociological perspective, is best understood as:

Answer: A socially constructed label that discredits individuals and limits their social participation

Following Goffman's work on stigma, mental health stigma is a socially constructed attribute that marks individuals as deviant, leading to discrimination, social exclusion, and reluctance to seek help.

In health sociology, 'health literacy' is best defined as:

Answer: The ability to obtain, process, and understand health information to make appropriate decisions

Health literacy refers to individuals' capacity to access, comprehend, and act on health information, and low health literacy is a significant social determinant associated with poorer health outcomes.

The concept of 'patient empowerment' in health sociology primarily involves:

Answer: Enabling patients to actively participate in decisions about their care through information and shared decision-making

Patient empowerment refers to processes that increase patients' knowledge, confidence, and agency so they can actively participate in healthcare decisions, reflecting a shift away from paternalistic medical models.

Racial health disparities in the United States are most comprehensively explained by:

Answer: Differential access to healthcare combined with structural racism, discrimination, and social inequality

Research consistently shows that racial health disparities are primarily products of structural racism, which shapes socioeconomic conditions, neighborhood environments, discrimination in healthcare systems, and chronic stress exposure.