Gender Aspects of Stress - Essay Example

Health and Stress July 25 The racial disparity in stress and health could be a result of unequal health services available and also could be dueto the income level Gender Differences & Racial Differences in Terms of Health Behaviors Strain either is physical or emotional is the second name of stress. Sometimes stress is positive too, but it depends. Some people take stress as depression while some take it as responsibility, challenge and opportunity (Scott, 2009). For examples, during exams, different behaviors can be observed in a single class. Some students take it as a challenge and tend to take positions, some strive to get passing marks, and some lose hope and skip the papers. Different types of stress are based on these feelings only. Eustress, Acute Stress, Chronic Stress are the different types of stress. However, this paper aims to discuss gender differences and racial differences in terms of health behaviors. It has been observed that various races face identical stress and health problems. White and black are the most common and the basic classifications of races. However, in proper classification several names come. There are quite a few studies on stress and health behaviors and its impact on stress and health. This paper aims to find out if the gender and racial disparities exit. In case these do, what are the consequences? This paper also tends to identify if group of black citizens are healthier or stronger than the group of white people or vice versa. Does a race or gender impact one’s health behavior? If not, then what could be the reason behind such differences? Older Hispanics and Asian Islanders came across cultural blend by the mean of cross cultural weddings. Health behavior and stress impact on individual are based on different patterns where age, race, mental level, education and gender. It is said that black mortality curve crises over whites (Martin & Soldo, 1997). The gaps caused by health differences were reduced at the time of balancing for both, income and studies (Williams, Yu, Jackson, & Anderson, 1997). Different races have different health states. As per an investigation, inferior mental health and self perceived health have been reported in African Americans. Research found out that health and stress are not directly linked to race; however, it depends on the body strength, age, gender and in many cases, marital status also impacts the health behavior. Research clearly indicated that if the earnings and studies are managed, robust racial changes in health and stress are not observed (Williams, Yu, Jackson, & Anderson, 1997, pp. 243-250). Several studies have been conducted to find out the disparities among races, behaviors, genders, ages, physical progress, educational level, job descriptions, income and their body and mental behaviors. The term health and stress disparities remained hot topic for researcher throughout in differentiating the Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans with Europeans Americans. Results revealed that the Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans possess high chronic disorders. They not only have high mortality, but also poor health and stress outcomes are also noted in them as compare to European Americans. The tendencies of having poor health and a few critical diseases are observed in Latinos and African Americans. Researches disclose that small groups face higher and severe diseases like HIV and cardiovascular diseases. The racial disparity in stress and health could be a result of unequal health services available and also could be due to the income level. In the group of black people, health insurances and medical debt play the role of obstacles in acquiring health services. It is quite strange to illustrate that even the prescriptions and treatment procedures are observed identical for numerous racial groups. Medical experts state that the systematic bias in treatment of different ethnic groups is due to the physical changes observed in majority cases. It has also been observed that the black citizens of the United States are not treated fairly as compare to the white citizens. Black people are given less importance in emergency wards as compare to white citizens in the United States. However, black people happen to be physically stronger than white. This is also believed that black athletes are stronger and quicker than the white athletes. In old days, people used to prefer black slaves over the white slaves for the same reason. It was a common belief that a black slave can work more than a white slave. However, slavery of black people was also a result of discrimination and political failures. It has also been said that the mortality rate of black people is identically greater than the white people. Here, to prove this, researchers from all over the world tried to contradict and some proved it well too by calling it a result of biased medical facilities and services. Nowadays, in many health cases of white people, a common problem of obesity and diabetes are noticed. Medical experts call it a result of the Mexican immigrants. Numerous studies prove that there could be somewhat differences in body types of each group that could result in a little or huge difference among races, but the major reason of one being healthier than the other race is because of the availability of medical services, proper diet and proper physical activities. On the other hand, black females are observed having severe diseases like breast cancer. The tendency of breast cancer is also noticed in white females, but discrimination in health facilities caused black ladies suffer and die more than the white ladies. It is not easy to answer disparities between gender and racial groups. As discussed above, according to a common belief, black people are stronger than white people, but mortality rate of black people are observed higher than the white ones. However, criticism proves that this is because of the living conditions and availability of health care services for both black and white. Black people suffer critical stages of severe diseases because their diseases are not taken that seriously and are not cured as in the case of white people. When it comes to genders, females happen to be weaker than men. However, black females are proven to be stronger than white in term of physic. But, incidents indicated high death rate in black than white. This, however, can be a result of lacking in the health care and insurance facilities. White ladies are mostly found insured while black females face problem due to lack of health insurance facilities. The health services are required to be reformed and should be unbiased. All races should be given proper treatment as ecological responses differ by ethic. However, this is not wrong to say that the current ethnic disparity may harm social values. References Kim, J.-S., Bramlett, M. H., Wright, L. K., & Poon, L. W. (1998). Racial Differences in Health Status and Health Behaviors of Older Adults. Nursing Research , 243-250. Martin, L. G., & Soldo, B. J. (1997). Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Health of Older Americans . Washington: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS. Scott, E. (2009, May 04). Stress and Health. Retrieved July 24, 2010, from About.comy: http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/stresshealth.htm Williams, D. R., Yu, Y., Jackson, J. S., & Anderson, N. B. (1997). Socio-economic Status, Stress and Discrimination. Racial Differences in Physical and Mental Health , 2 (3), 335-351. Read More