INTL 340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Health Promotion, Bronchitis, Allostatic Load
2 Jul 2018
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Week 4 Class 1
Weathering hypothesis
● “posits that Blacks experience early health deterioration as a consequence of the cumulative
impact of repeated experience of social and economic adversity and political marginalization"
● “prolonged coping” with social disadvantage and prejudice “weathers” on the body over time
producing greater health inequality with age
● racism (& lived experiences of discrimination) negatively impact health outcomes
● Allostatic load is a useful measure of weathering (Geronumus et al p. 826)
Figure 1 from Geraniums p. 829
● allostatic load 4 or higher—>risk of having bad health outcomes
● with age increase, allostatic load increases
○ we are all weathering with age
● black women have higher odds of the highest allostatic loads
○ race & gender intersect to create weathering effects
● gap significantly widens at age 40
Implications of “weathering"
● social experience of race structures health outcomes among African Americans
● Race and gender interact so that Black women suffer disproportionate health effects
● Racial impacts on health not fully explained by poverty
● "American public sentiment on race…exacts a physical price across multiple biological
systems among Blacks who cope with stressful life conditions"
Preston Curve
● life expectancy and GDP
● higher GDP—>higher life expectancy
● low GPD—>higher female adult health rates
● potential explanation for whats going on after 5000 GDP
○ different opportunities for achieving a certain lifestyle
○ empowerment that comes with having the $ to achieve a certain lifestyle
○ psychosocial inequalities (Wilkinson)
○ social belonging/participation/cohesion
MeKeown Hypothesis
● McKeown: physician and demographer
● Researched the role of three factors influencing population health (esp. measured as
declines in infectious disease mortality)
○ medical advances
○ reduced exposure to infectious agents
○ nutrition improvements
● argues that declines in death rates are due primarily to improvements in living standards
● Graph
○ deaths start to decline at the turn of the century due to improvements in living
standards
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Posits that blacks experience early health deterioration as a consequence of the cumulative impact of repeated experience of social and economic adversity and political marginalization" Prolonged coping with social disadvantage and prejudice weathers on the body over time producing greater health inequality with age. Racism (& lived experiences of discrimination) negatively impact health outcomes. Allostatic load is a useful measure of weathering (geronumus et al p. 826) Allostatic load 4 or higher >risk of having bad health outcomes. Black women have higher odds of the highest allostatic loads. Race & gender intersect to create weathering effects. Social experience of race structures health outcomes among african americans. Race and gender interact so that black women suffer disproportionate health effects. Racial impacts on health not fully explained by poverty. "american public sentiment on race exacts a physical price across multiple biological systems among blacks who cope with stressful life conditions" Potential explanation for whats going on after 5000 gdp.
