7.1 Chapter Reading Guide
Elizabeth B. Pearce
In this chapter, we’ll start with social constructions, which you learned about in Chapter 1. Have you thought about the ways that health is socially constructed? Here you will explore how stigma and intersectionality can affect access to health care, health insurance, and health equity in the United States. This chapter contains topics of practical interest such as the opioid epidemic, the power of sleep, and how social structures can impact personal relationships like intimate relationships.
The reading is designed to help you meet the following chapter objectives. You may also want to preview the key terms that follow. These terms will be bolded the first time they appear in the chapter. You can read the definitions here and also in the hyperlinks.
Chapter Learning Objectives
- Explain how socially constructed ideas affect health outcomes for families.
- Describe the advantage of understanding health disparities related to social characteristics (race, gender, etc.) and how it relates to families.
- Explain why family members with mental illness or substance use disorders are less likely to get medical care and support.
- Relate the challenges of meeting basic needs like sleep, exercise, and good diet to family health.
- Describe how definitions of “family” impact the access of any individual to health care.
- Examine how family structure, geography, and income level overlap affect health care access in the United States.
- Analyze what contributed to the opioid crisis and its impact on families.
- Apply theoretical concepts related to family health to one’s own observations and experiences.
Key Terms Preview
- Health: the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
- Health disparities: preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations.
- Health equity: equal access to health benefits for all people, regardless of identity.
- Health insurance: a type of insurance, paid for by the consumer or another entity, that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses.
- Mental health: a state of mind characterized by emotional well-being, behavioral adjustment, relative freedom from anxiety and disabling symptoms, and a capacity to establish relationships and cope with the ordinary demands and stresses of life.
- Mental illness: a wide range of mental health disorders that affect your mood, thinking, and behavior.
- Opioid: substances that affect the neurons in our brain by blocking pain and providing a feeling of calm and euphoria.
- Stigma: a negative or discriminatory attitude toward others related to a specific characteristic or difference, often of a marginalized identity.
- United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights: an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings.
Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Reading Guide
Open Content, Original
“Chapter Reading Guide” by Elizabeth B. Pearce. License: CC BY 4.0.
the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
a negative or discriminatory attitude toward others related to a specific characteristic or difference, often of a marginalized identity.
an approach originally advanced by women of color that finds it critical to look at how identities and characteristics (such as ethnicity, race, and gender) overlap and influence each other to create complex hierarchies of power and oppression.
a type of insurance, paid for by the consumer or another entity, that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses.
ensuring that people have what they need in order to have a healthy, successful life that is equal to others. Different from equality in that some may receive more help than others in order to be at the same level of success.
substances that affect the neurons in our brain by blocking pain and providing a feeling of calm and euphoria.
characterized by mutual trust, caring, and acceptance and often imply a romantic or sexual relationship.
preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations.
the categorization of humans using observable physical or biological criteria, such as skin color, hair color or texture, facial features, etc.
a socially constructed expression of a person’s sexual identity which influences the status, roles, and norms for their behavior.
a wide range of mental health disorders that affect your mood, thinking, and behavior.