Health Psychology Across Cultures: Psy 2023 Cross-Cultural Psychology

Chapter 10
Health Psychology across

Cultures
PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY
Learning Objective
At the end of this chapter, students are able to:
1. Describe the concept of health psychology

2. Discuss cultural factors in health behavior
3. Describe ecology, population, and health
PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 2

1.1 Health psychology
 Health psychology
 the study of psychological and behavioral processes in health, illness, and
healthcare.
 It is concerned with understanding how psychological, behavioral, and
cultural factors contribute to physical health and illness.
 For example, certain behaviors can harm (smoking or consuming excessive
amounts of alcohol) or enhance health (engaging in exercise).
 Health psychologists take a biopsychosocial approach.
 In other words, health psychologists understand health to be the product
not only of biological processes (e.g., a virus, tumor, etc.) but also of
psychological (e.g., thoughts and beliefs), behavioral (e.g., habits), and social
processes (e.g., socioeconomic status and ethnicity).

1.2 Health related behaviours
 Kasl and Cobb (1966) defined three types of health related behaviours.
 They suggested that;
 a health behaviour is a behaviour aimed at preventing disease
 e.g. eating a healthy diet
 an illness behaviour is a behaviour aimed at seeking a remedy
 e.g. going to the doctor
 a sick role behaviour is an activity aimed at getting well
 e.g. taking prescribed medication or resting

2.1 Cultural factors in health behavior
Family history
Personal
of dietary risk Diseases
habits
factors

a) Family history of dietary risk factors
 Several studies have provided evidence that family history of dietary risk factors
may be related to adolescents’ food preferences.
 Fischer and Dyer (1981) reported that family history of obesity was related to
increased intake of sweets, dairy products and fatty foods in a sample of 116
high school girls.
 Their results also indicated that having a family history of heart problems was
related to decreased consumption of milk, eggs, and salty foods.
 Diabetes can come from genetics, just like it can come from family habits. But
this is more often a factor in Type I diabetes. Type II diabetes can be greatly
affected by the lifestyle a family lives. As you grow up and get older you learn a
lot of habits from your family.

b) Personal habits
 These are personal habits such as smoking, excessive drinking, over-eating and
not exercising which can influence the onset and course of a disease.
 About 50% of premature deaths in western countries can be attributed to
lifestyle (Hamburg et al., 1982).
 Smokers, on average, reduce their life expectancy by five years (Bennett and
Murphy, 1997).
 50% of mortality from the 10 leading causes of death is due to behaviour.
 Doll and Peto (1981) estimated that 75% of cancer deaths were related to
behaviour.
 90% of all lung cancer mortality is attributable to cigarette smoking, which
is also linked to other illnesses such as cancers of the bladder, pancreas,
mouth, and oesophagus and coronary heart disease.

c) Diseases
 Illness may have psychological consequences, but not psychological causes.
 Diseases endemic in different parts of the world can be affected by behavior and
attitude e.g. malaria, aedes, zika.
 Diseases come from outside the body, causing internal physical changes or
 Diseases originate in the body as internal, involuntary physical changes.
 Diseases are caused by chemical imbalances, bacteria or viruses
 Culturally difference
 HIV/AIDS increased the number of infection-related deaths in the West in
the 1980s and 1990s. Effect in reducing life expectancy.
 Poverty and poor nutrition has reduced life expectancy in Burma, India.
 Cardiovascular diseases account for about 40% of all deaths in
industrialized countries.

2.2 Biopsychosocial model
 The biopsychosocial model underlying health psychology adopts a more
proactive attitude towards health.
 Bio: genetic, viruses, bacterial, lesions, structural defects, gender
 Psycho: cognitions (e.g. expectations of health), emotions (e.g. fear of
treatment), behaviour (e.g smoking, exercise, diet, alcohol consumption,
stress, pain.
 Social: Norms of behavior e.g. smoking/not smoking. Pressures to change
e.g. peer pressure, expectations, parental pressures.
 The Biopsychosocial model offers a holistic approach. The person as a whole
has to be looked after. Both at micro-level (causes, such as chemical imbalance)
and at macro-level, such as the extent of social support need to be taken into
account. These processes interact to determine someone’s health status.

2.3 Health practises
 Belloc and Breslow (1972) conducted study asking a representative sample of
6928 residents of Almeida County, California whether they engaged in the
following seven health practises:
1. sleeping seven to eight hours daily
2. eating breakfast almost every day
3. never or rarely eating between meals
4. currently being at or near prescribed height adjusted weight; Body Mass
Index (BMI)
5. never smoking cigarettes
6. moderate or no use of alcohol
7. regular physical activity.

3.1 Ecology, population and health
 Ecology
 the scientific study of interactions of
organisms with one another and with the
physical and chemical environment.
 It mainly involves of research on the natural
world from many viewpoints, using many
techniques.
 Health
 the level of functional or metabolic efficiency
of a living organism.
 In humans, it is the ability of individuals or
communities to adapt and self-manage when
facing physical, mental or social challenges.
3.2 Pollution and Health
 Air pollution
 Any change in the atmosphere
that has harmful effects
 Water pollution
 Any physical, biological or
chemical changes in water quality
that adversely affects living
organisms or makes water
unstainable for desired used.
 Noise pollution
 loud noise, merged into
discordant sound.

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Chapter 10

Health Psychology across

1. Describe the concept of health psychology

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 2

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 3

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 4

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 5

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 6

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 7

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 8

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 9

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 10

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 12

PSY 2023 CROSS-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY 13

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