Culture and Health

CULTURE AND HEALTH
Relation of culture with personality characteristics :

:) Personality is shaped by both genetic and environmental factors.
The culture in which you live is one of the most important
environmental factors that shapes your personality.
:) The term culture refers to all of the beliefs, customs, art, and
traditions of a particular society. Although some people may tend to
think that we are fully in control of our personality, the reality is that our
personality can be impacted by many things outside of our control.
:) Other people can shape our personality. The environment can alter
our personality.
:) Even illnesses and toxins can change our personality. In a similar
light, culture, religion, and ethnicity may impact our personality as well.
:) Culture is transmitted to people through language as
well as through the modeling of culturally acceptable
and nonacceptable behaviors there is evidence that
the strength of personality traits varies across cultures
:) One great example of the way culture can influence
personality is to look at cultures that are more
individualistic and those that are more collectivistic.
:) People in individualistic cultures tend to be more
often idiocentric, or interested in their own ways. Those
in collectivist cultures tend to be more often allocentric,
which is when they focus their attention on others
instead.
:) Individuals who are more idiocentric may be more likely
to display the following characteristics to their personalities:
* Emotional distance
* Competitiveness
* Self-reliance
* Higher self-esteem
:) Individuals who are more allocentric, on the other hand,
may be more likely to display other characteristics, such as:
* Sociability
* Empathy
* A lower self-esteem
* Ease of embarrassment
:). Western ideas about personality may not be
applicable to other cultures.
:) In fact, there is evidence that the strength of
personality traits varies across cultures. Individualist
cultures and collectivist cultures place emphasis on
different basic values.
:) People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe
that independence, competition, and personal
achievement are important.
:) People who live in collectivist cultures value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs.
:) There are three approaches that can be used to study personality in a cultural context: the cultural-comparative
approach, the indigenous approach, and the combined approach, which incorporates both elements of both views.
Relation of culture with health
:) Culture is a pattern of ideas, customs and behaviours shared
by a particular people or society. It is constantly evolving.
:) The speed of cultural evolution varies. It increases when a
group migrates to and incorporates components of a new culture
into their culture of origin.
:)Children often struggle with being between cultures'- balancing
the Old' and the 'new?. They essentially belong to both, whereas
their parents often belong predominantly to the 'old' culture.
One way of thinking about cultures is whether they are primarily
'collectivist' or 'individualist'.
:) Knowing the difference can help health professionals with
diagnosis and with tailoring a treatment plan that includes a
larger or smaller group.
:) The influence of culture on health is vast. It affects

perceptions of health, illness and death, beliefs about causes
of disease, approaches to health promotion, how illness and
pain are experienced and expressed, where patients seek
help, and the types of treatment patients prefer.
:) Both health professionals and patients are influenced by

their respective cultures. Canada's health system has been
shaped by the mainstream beliefs of historically dominant
:) Cultural bias may result in very different health-related
preferences and perceptions. Being aware of and
negotiating such differences are skills known as 'cultural
competence.
:) This perspective allows care providers to ask about
various beliefs or sources of care specifically, and to
incorporate new awareness into diagnosis and treatment
planning.
:) Demonstrating awareness of a patient's culture can
promote trust, better health care, lead to higher rates of
acceptance of diagnoses and improve treatment
adherence.
References
:)) Indreni TK. Textbook of sociology for nurses.
Jaypee;2005
:)) Openstax Psychology text by Kathryn Dumper,
William Jenkins, Arlene Lacombe, Marilyn Lovett and
Marion Perlmutter licensed under CC BY v4.0.
https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology

Culture and Health

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CULTURE AND HEALTH

Relation of culture with personality characteristics :

:) The influence of culture on health is vast. It affects

:) Both health professionals and patients are influenced by

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