Social Influences on Health and Wellbeing - Essay Example

"Social Influences on Health and Wellbeing" is a great example of a paper on social and family issues. Gender’s effect on health can be due to the biological makeup of females as well as the social factors. Biologically speaking, the health of women shows variation in their physical as well as mental state throughout their menstrual cycle. Additionally, during pregnancy, there is a marked variation in the health status of females.  Social influence regarding different habits like smoking or drinking also exerts its effect in a gender-dependent fashion (Giddens, 2012). Smoking for example is frowned upon if women indulge in smoking whereas for men it is acceptable; hence increased lung cancer rates in men. Drinking on the other hand is more or less acceptable in both sexes; so the deleterious effects of drinking are seen in both sexes. It is therefore clear that gender differences do exert their effects on the health of individuals.

Culture’s influence is profound keeping in view the fact that it limits the access of individuals to health care facilities. Additionally, culture guides the individuals about the norms and thought patterns, which are then reflected in the health behavior.  Cultures provide the individuals with a system of health beliefs that shape the behavior of people regarding their illness, e.g. it is common for ancient cultures to associate illness to curse or magic spells (Nielsen-Bohlman, 2004). Similarly, in eastern cultures where elders are given extreme respect, the decision regarding the treatment of individuals is often affected by the elders of the family. The human agency is definitely a factor that plays its role, but the ultimate result of health-restoring activities is a consequence of the amalgamation of cultural as well as human factors.

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