AND SO IT BEGINS
Hi Everyone
Most of you are have started the year well . We have nearly finished dot point 2 ‘perceptions of health’. The aim of this is to understand how we perceive our own or others health. This requires a recognition that these perceptions are influenced by a number of factors. These include the environment, family,peers, self esteem, media and culture. It is also important to recognise what these perceptions may mean.
One example that students completed today referred to a girl who was not worried about her health because her grandmother lived into her 90’s. This girl had confidence in her abilityto stay healthy that may have been misplaced. It may mean that her over confidence would cause her not to exercise adequately, or consume appropriate food ……..etc
Our next consideration is to understand that heath is ‘socially constructed’. This will be the topic of our next lesson and an important concept to understand. Click on the link below to do some preliminary reading
yr 11 core 1 health as a social construct
Using this reading and information from your next lesson, comment on your understanding of this concept. This will be in the form of another blog post (you may also refer to another students post when answering ie. discussion)
Jvangogh's Blog 
hey. my understanding of the social construction of health is that it refers to the way health varies from one society to another. We make up our own perceptions of health by comparing how we look and feel to how our mates look and feel. This often changes because the social circumstances vary and the people we compare ourselves are vary as well. For example, if a person who normally hung out with athletic people and played sports a lot began to hang out with a different group who mainly just smoked and drunk, despite the persons own levels of health declining they would feel they were still healthy compared to the others in the group. Its the same vise versa, except I person may push themselves too hard and work out or exercise too much and cause mental/social issues whilst to trying and fit in with an athletic group.
yehh thats what i think, not sure if its right
Good post Alec and you have included an example!!!
Your point about health varying from one society to another is absolutely correct but can also vary from within a society. Different cultural groups, different socio-economic groups etc will all have different perceptions of health. Although this blog post is slightly informal writing, I think it is a good idea to practise exam style writing – So’ how our mates look” might be written “how our peer group
look’ “hung out” could be “socialised with”
Good job leaving the first response.
hey guys QK-its a ninja
our perceptions of health are like if u hang out wif like sporty people like i do u will be fit cause u are alwyas playing sport with ur mates but like if u changed and hanged out with like the people who play heaps of video games then u will start to get un fit gradually and less healthy
yasss
Well done David in understanding the concept of ‘social construct’. Now need to think broader than the individual. What is the impact of socially constructed health for our society?
Hi. my understanding of socially constructed health refers to how health is different in different social groups. We usually compare our health to our friends since we are around them a lot and becasue we share the same interests. E.g, If you play basketball at recess and lunch with your friends, your health will be generally be fit & atthletic, this would be the same with the rest od your peer group. Another example is if you want to the beach a lot, your perception of health would be having tanned skin.
I would ask you to refer to the comment I wrote for David. This answer is an insight into the question but would need to include some broader ideas around culture, media etc
yeah leggett thats good
Perceptions of health are varied in many ways. for example if you hang out with a particular group of people on the weekend they may be really into the ‘looking good’ stage where being tanned is often seemed to be looking better then fairer skinned people. So on weekends you may sun bake on a weekly basis and not really know about how the sun may be affecting you.
Also if your group of friends all like to play sport and keep healthy you will be influenced to play sport and be healthy rather then not do any sport and eat unhealthily.
My understanding of the social construction of health is someone affect someone’s social construction, e.g if you hung with who is, you will be like them. social construction of health is a member who are doing exercies you can do more exerciec but in my case my friends doen’t like doing exercies so we are just talking..
miss i cant read it i dont have word.
my understanding of socially contrusted health is the way that health varies from societys and different cultural backgrounds. These different groups each like to do different things which affects the way they, and their peers behave or the diet they consume.
For example, if you like to socailise with people who eat lots of unhealthy food and do very little exercise then you may think it is normal and okay to do this. Although you are the ‘same’ as the other poeple you may find that your relative health is better than others of the social group.
Socially constructed health can also be influenced by the mass media, which is modelling, tv and movies. This has a huge impact on teenage girls and boys..
For example, girls seeeing actresses and models may think it is healthy and attractive to be very unhealthily thin, as this si what is shown to be a healthybody and boys see the same although they tend to want their bodies more muscley and toned.
i wrote and essay almost 🙂
Well done at a more complete answer Bec that incorporates culture and media.
I think that the examples that have been given by Alec and Mitch have been really good, but just like Ms Van Gogh posted, social contruct is not just from one society to another, it can also be within a society. And I believe that it’s from within a society that influences such as gender, ethnicity, age, socio-economic status, culture/beliefs and family life occur, and affect social construct. These aspects and more affect all dimensions – physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual – of people’s health which, in turn, affect their whole lives.
For example, someone with a low-socio economic status will not be able to access the same physical services as people in a high economic state would. Therefore they would not be as physically healthy or as social.
Another example would be someone with strong cultural beliefs. They may not participate in the same activities as their peer group and therefore may feel isolated, resulting in a lower emotional, social and mental state.
Excellent use of course terminology in your writing Josie. Your answer shows a clear understanding of most issues that effect an individuals health and you have included some strong examples.
The social construct of health is highly influenced by your peer or social group, and as josie said within a society. Your social group influences what you participate in because you are more likely to have the same interests. For example if your social group is very active and participates in physical activity then the other people would as well.
If you are religious your social group will have the same cultural beliefs. This means that your peers and yourself will all participate in the same activities because of the groups religious beliefs.
You have given an example of socially constructed health in the first paragraph. While the second paragrapg recognises religion as an influence on health you have not given an example to reflect this.
Social groups play a big part in influencing your perception of health and as Tom explained there are various ways this could happen. Another social attitude that may influence your pereception is smoking where you and your friends smoke socially which most likely will turn into an addiction this will affect your health significantly and could cause diseases.
I suppose the question here is why people smoke. Research suggests that particular groups within society are more likely to be smokers ie. low socio-economic status, blue collar workers(tradesman), rural youth Therefore being part of one of these groups nfluences your ability to stay healthy.
AWWWWWW YUP. My personal understanding of social construction is all to do with influences from your social groups. For example say if you hang out with physically active people allot it will influence you to do the same and live an active life style, on the other hand it could also affect you very negatively, you could be brought up in bad living conditions E.G. If your parents were alcoholics it could influence you and your future
Perceptions of health can be very powerful in many ways to someones future health and survival. Peoples perceptions have changed over time as health is a soical construct. Sometimes the impact of media, peers and family, contribute to your own peception of health. Given that society has its impacts, it influences us in our age, ethnicity, socio- ecomic status and also our gender.
For example; Our peer group and social status has a vast impact on our health. Having companions who love sport and have a desire to complete within sports, usually influence yourself to engage in physical activity and a path to eat healthier foods. It gives you the urge to compete within this social group and at times fit in. On the other hands having different companions whom may sit around, smoke drink and tan under the sun, may also influence to proceed to your decision. Which ever decision made, there are bad aspects behind them both. Trying to fit in with in the sporty athletes may cause harm emotionally, spiritually and physically as your trying to fit in a compete with in this social group. This puts your health back as its causing harm to your body and health causing stress and other informalities.
Social contruct has a large impact on our health.
i see someone has been listening ( SCAGS ) √
dont be silly dallas
ill chris brown you
Good points included that refer to health changing over time (an example here would have been good) You have also included some syllabus terminology (ethnicity, socio-economic status …..)
i agree with everyone. i think we all kind of have the same understanding of perceptions of health. i look it at like everything in your life influences your perception, the people around you, your up-bringing, culture and society. people are most likely going to go along with the majority and participate it the activities they do, if thats physical activity then thats good though can also be things damaging their health and especially and a young teenage age to get into a bad habit can cause a lot of problems to come. e.g smoking, drugs, underage drinking. when some people are just wanting to ‘fit in’ they can tend to just go along with the crowd and group they are in, which leads them to doing things they might not usually think of doing and later on maybe regretting it. the more educated they are it is more likely they can control a bit more what influences their perception for the better of their health.
🙂
You have demonstrated a sound understanding of the influence of peer group on health and given examples. Need to think a little broader to include culture,socio-economic status,media to have a more complete answer.Try to paragraph your writing by breaking up each new idea into a separate paragraph.
ohh nice scags! (Y)
Yeh if you hang around sporty people you will do sport with them and if you socialis with people that dont like sport you wont do sport with them
I think you could add a little more to that nick but pretty good and simple. Your friends, peers, and family severly influence the way you behave, interact and your lifestyle choices. For e.g. the type of people you may hangout or socialise with on the weekends and at school and sporting activities influence the way you behave, talk and communicate with fellow beings. If your friends are interested in sports and physical activity, it is most likely you will show a passion and interest in a particular sport. Conversely friends can impact the way you make choices and can have a huge effect on your life. If they get involved with drugs and alcohol, you will be exposed to negative experiences. It also depends on your socio economic status, your age, gender and location as situations vary from place to place. Go Panthers
Would have liked some examples of how the items in your last sentence have an effect on health.
The media has a big effect on social construct, for example T.V. comercials like mcdonalds could influence young people to eat unhealthy. Your family impacts the way you eat and the sports you play. Your peers affect how you are physicaly, for example if your friends are sporty you will most likely compete in sports with them.
Yasssssssssssssss
there are different levels of influential things that determine health as a social construct. there is obviously your closer friend groups who if they are sporty will influence you to be sporty or if they were druggy they would influence ou to be like that and so on. there is also a media influence with advertising about smoking and tanning. People are in social constructs were this can be looked on as a good or cool thing when really it is physically unhealthy.
Many different things contribute to the way people view theirs and others health. Such as the media, the way your family views the importance of health and the opinions that your social group has on the subject health.
For example; If you have been brought up in a family that considers health as an important habit in their life, your are most likely to follow in their ideas and perceptions on health and continue to grow up as a healthy human being but if we compare this to someone who has been brought up in house hold with an unhealthy environment you are less likely to grow up as a healthy individual.
I believe this impacts on the idea of health as a social construct.
hello children,
my understanding of health as a social construct is; there are many factors affecting young peoples health, including perceptions of the media, our peers, our families and ourselves. We combine these different perspectives in order to create our own individual perception of health and make the decision whether to take the perceptions of others and the media as the truth or to create our own view with sufficient knowledge of the topic. The people we socialise with also affects our perception of health and our health behaviours as we spend a lot of time with peers and family. For example; if your family is a physically fit family that regularly participates in physical activity the you too are likely to be physically fit. If you socialise with people who smoke and drink, then you too are likely to smoke and drink as you believe that this is socially acceptable behaviour without realising the associated health risks.
fluking it frequently……..
mystery box(ricky) yaaaaaaas }: v D>
Everyone has a different perspective or meaning of health and this depends largely on our social circumstances which results to a social construct of an individual.
An individual in a specific peer group can change the whole health of this person because this person has to do alot to fit into the group. Whether it is an athletic group or a smart, clever group it may increase one of your 5 dimensions of health. There can also be a group which shares one thing in common which is their culture or where they came from.
A person with a low socio economic status may not be able to pay for healthy food or health facilities which could mean lower physical health and also lower social health because of the way you may be treated in schools.
I think that health is affected by an infinite number of things, including the media, your peers, family and your own perception of health.
The media can dictatte to us the style and fashion of our bodies as well as the clothes we wear. Clothes are important because many people are not able to fit into the latest fashion, and so diet or feel insecure as a result of this. On the other side, however, the media can also be helpful, like when shows such as Kerri Anne, or Sunrise when they have segments on good health, or shows like the Biggest Loser, that is all about good health and weight loss.
Your family has a major impact on your lifestyle and habits. When you live with your parents, especially when you are a kid, you watch them, and pick up their habits as your own. For example, if you have an unemployed dad who drinks, eats fast food alot and doesnt exercise, though you may not become him, you definitely will pick up some of his habits, or feel as if it is okay to sink to that level in your own life.
Your friends also
sorry, more coming soon 🙂
Social construct means that our health are made depending on our social circumstances and as a result we have difference in our health status. The things that influence our health are social, cultural, family, media and peer groups.
For e.g. If you are in group that plays a lot of sports then you will be get influenced and become fit like them.. Also if your family member smoke or use drug then you are most likely to influenced by that especially when you are kid.
So different circumstances construct different health habit.