Deck 21: Health and Medicine

Question 1

The World Health Organization claims more than half of all humanity suffers from illness caused by poverty.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

About 20 percent of U.S.adults are overweight.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

People with more money to spend are more likely to become obese.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In the United States, people with higher incomes have a more positive assessment of their personal health than people with low incomes.

Question 5

Genital herpes is a curable sexually transmitted disease.

Question 6

In much of the world, illness and poverty form a vicious circle, with each increasing the other.

Question 7

As a result of cigarette smoking, some 440,000 people in the United States die prematurely every year.

Question 8

Eating disorders are a result of how our society defines success and attractiveness among women.

Question 9

Social inequality affects a society's patterns of health.

Question 10

From a sociological point of view, health is sometimes a matter of having the same diseases as one's neighbors.

Question 11

Fifty years ago, few people in the United States understood the dangers of cigarette smoking or excessive sun exposure.

Question 12

Because of so many auto accidents, death rates among young people are much higher than they were a century ago.

Question 13

Social epidemiology is the study of how health and disease are distributed throughout a society's population.

Question 14

Diseases such as heart disease and cancer are the leading killers in low-income nations.

Question 15

In the United States, the infant mortality rate among low-income children is about the same as the rate for the children of the wealthy.

Question 16

AIDS kills more people in the United States each year than diseases caused by cigarette smoking.

Question 17

"Type A personalities," which are linked to masculinity, are harmful to human health.

Question 18

Over the course of the last century, an important health trend in the United States has been a rising death rate from infectious diseases.

Question 19

Cultural patterns define what is or is not healthy.

Question 20

Industrialization gradually led to dramatic improvements in human health.

Question 21

One criticism of the social-conflict analysis is that it minimizes the improvements in health care brought about by scientific medicine.

Question 22

Talcott Parsons developed the concept of the "sick role."

Question 23

Parsons claimed that, to qualify for the sick role, a person must want to become healthy and act in ways to restore health.

Question 24

The role of government in providing medical care is greater in the United States than in other high-income nations.

Question 25

The U.S.health care system is one example of the model called socialized medicine.

Question 26

Holistic medicine seeks to change the focus of medical practice from treating symptoms of disease to preventing disease and promoting health.

Question 27

The world region with the highest rate of HIV infection is the Middle East.

Question 28

Approximately what percentage of U.S.adults is overweight?

A)23 percent
B)43 percent
C)63 percent
D)83 percent

Question 29

About one month after being infected, most people with HIV begin to display symptoms.

Question 30

Gonorrhea and syphilis can be cured with penicillin.

Question 31

Applying the sociological perspective, we see that the high rate of obesity in the United States reflects

A)bad personal choices people make about their lives.
B)cultural forces that encourage people to eat large amounts of unhealthy fast food.
C)our long history as a nation of people with poor health.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 32

Today's advanced medical technology has made the definition of death much clearer.

Question 33

Social-conflict analysis claims the profit motive enhances the quality of medical care in the United States.

Question 34

AIDS cannot be spread through sneezing.

Question 35

Social definitions have little to do with the reality of health and illness; these are simply medical conditions involving human biology.

Question 36

Active euthanasia refers to using a physician's services to bring about a patient's death.

Question 37

Advances in human genetics hold out promise to prevent disease but also raise ethical issues about how this technology should be used.

Question 38

The acceptance of the scientific model of medicine in the United States was symbolized by the founding of the American Medical Association in 1847.

Question 39

About half of all physicians in the United States are women.

Question 40

Heterosexual sex cannot transmit AIDS.

Question 41

Advancing medical technology has attacked infectious disease in poor countries with what result?

A)Almost nothing: This technology has had little effect.
B)Populations have increased rapidly.
C)Birth rates have dropped to near zero.
D)Most children die earlier in life than ever before.

Question 42

Ideas about health can serve as a type of social control, as illustrated by the notion that

A)women would risk their health by going to college.
B)a competitive way of life is "healthy."
C)homosexuality is "sick," even though it is biologically natural.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 43

According to the World Health Organization, about how many of the world's people suffer from serious illness caused by poverty?

A)1 million
B)10 million
C)1 billion
D)10 billion

Question 44

Research shows that masculinity is linked to health because

A)our culture's definition of masculinity encourages stress and heart disease.
B)men learn to be strong and avoid illness.
C)men avoid many of the lifestyle dangers common to women.
D)None of these is correct.

Question 45

Which of the following statements about gender and health is correct?

A)Women have a higher suicide rate than men.
B)Men have fewer accidents than women.
C)Women generally have better health than men.
D)Old people generally have better health than young people.

Question 46

Today, more than a century after the onset of the Industrial Revolution, there has been an increase in the share of deaths caused by which of the following types of diseases?

A)infectious diseases such as influenza and pneumonia
B)chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer
C)Both (a) and (b) are correct.
D)Neither

Question 47

In the world's poorest nations today, life expectancy is as low as about

A)fifty years.
B)sixty years.
C)seventy years.
D)eighty years.

Question 48

Social epidemiology is the study of

A)the biological basis of disease.
B)the availability of doctors around the world.
C)the age at which people die.
D)the distribution of health and illness in a population.

Question 49

If you were to visit a low-income nation to study its high death rates, what would you find to be the most common causes of death?

A)cancer and heart disease
B)infectious diseases
C)accidents
D)old age

Question 50

The greatest cause of death among young people in the United States today is which of the following?

A)cancer
B)stroke
C)accidents
D)kidney disease

Question 51

Society shapes human health because

A)cultural patterns define what is or is not healthy.
B)social inequality affects a population's health.
C)society's technology affects people's health.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 52

In Western Europe and North America, scientists began to understand the causes of infectious diseases at about what point in history?

A)1650
B)1750
C)1850
D)1950

Question 53

Which of the following is an example of a chronic illness?

A)influenza
B)cancer
C)accidents
D)pneumonia

Question 54

Which of the following factors has a strong link to life expectancy?

A)race
B)gender
C)social class
D)All of these are correct.

Question 55

Which of the following diseases is the biggest killer in today's high-income nations?

A)heart disease
B)influenza
C)pneumonia
D)cholera

Question 56

During the early decades of the Industrial Revolution

A)rapidly growing cities had poor sanitation.
B)factories fouled the air with smoke.
C)workplace accidents were common.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 57

In the United States, how does life expectancy of white people compare to that of black people?

A)It is four years longer.
B)It is about the same.
C)It is two years shorter.
D)It is four years shorter.

Question 58

Poor health in low-income nations reflects which of the following factors?

A)limited safe drinking water
B)limited access to medical personnel
C)the lack of a nutritious diet
D)All of these are correct.

Question 59

In poor nations around the world, about what percentage of children die before they reach their first birthday?

A)1 percent
B)10 percent
C)50 percent
D)90 percent

Question 60

Read the following statements about health in the United States.Which of the statements is correct?

A)The children of rich families have the best health in the world.
B)Children in poor families are as vulnerable as children in some low-income nations.
C)High-income people assess their own health more positively than low-income people.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 61

Which of the following categories of the U.S.population has the highest life-expectancy?

A)white men
B)white women
C)African American men
D)African American women

Question 62

The concept of "euthanasia" refers to

A)assisting in the death of a person suffering from a terminal illness.
B)people's legal "right to die."
C)providing medical treatment to seriously ill people.
D)providing medical assistance to those who cannot afford it.

Question 63

Which of the following is a factor contributing to widespread obesity in U.S.society?

A)fewer of today's jobs involve the physical labor common in the past
B)more work around the house is done by machines
C)the typical diet involves both more food and more salty and fatty food
D)All of these are correct.

Question 64

Holistic medicine asserts that

A)the most important task is treating symptoms of disease.
B)patients should rely on themselves-not just physicians-to ensure their health.
C)treatment of patients should be impersonal.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 65

The greatest preventable cause of death in the United States is

A)sexually transmitted diseases.
B)automobile accidents.
C)cigarette smoking.
D)drinking alcohol.

Question 66

Upon infection, people with HIV

A)display obvious symptoms.
B)get very sick right away.
C)display no symptoms at all.
D)get mildly sick from time to time.

Question 67

In the United States, the most widespread health problem related to eating is which of the following?

A)anorexia
B)bulimia
C)obesity
D)None of these are correct.

Question 68

Of all high-income nations, which country relies the most on a direct-fee market system to pay for medical treatment?

A)Great Britain
B)Sweden
C)the United States
D)Japan

Question 69

Scientific medicine typically develops in

A)pastoral societies.
B)agrarian societies.
C)industrial societies.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 70

Which of the following statements about the "right to die" is true?

A)Voters in Oregon approved a physician-assisted suicide law.
B)The U.S.Supreme Court has stated that there is no "right to die."
C)Physician-assisted suicide is legal in the Netherlands.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 71

An exception to the general decline of infectious diseases in the United States is the increase in ______ after 1960.

A)cancer
B)obesity
C)flu
D)sexually transmitted diseases

Question 72

Which sexually transmitted disease infects 24 million U.S.adults

A)syphilis
B)genital herpes
C)gonorrhea
D)AIDS

Question 73

In which region of the United States is the problem of obesity most widespread?

A)the West Coast
B)the Southwest
C)the South
D)the Northern Plains

Question 74

It is correct to say that the medical establishment in the United States is oriented towards which of the following?

A)holistic treatment
B)herbal healing
C)traditional healing arts
D)scientific medicine

Question 75

Research shows that college women believe

A)physical looks are less important than "what's inside."
B)being thin is key to being attractive.
C)they are thinner than men would like them to be.
D)All of these are correct.

Question 76

Which of the following world regions is experiencing the most severe epidemic of AIDS?

A)Latin America
B)sub-Saharan Africa
C)the Middle East
D)eastern Asia

Question 77

In which of the following nations is almost all medical care under the control of government?

A)China
B)Great Britain
C)Japan
D)the United States

Question 78

Which of the following is considered a behavior placing people at high risk of HIV infection?

A)anal sex
B)sharing needles
C)using drugs that impair judgment
D)All of these are correct.

Question 79

The rise of scientific medicine in the United States began about when?

A)1960, with advances in computer technology
B)1917, about the time of World War I
C)1890, as the rate immigration increased
D)1847, with the founding of the American Medical Association

Question 80

What is the death toll in the United States each year caused by diseases related to being overweight?

A)1,200 people
B)12,000 people
C)112,000 people
D)12 million people