Upon completing the Holmes-Rahe stress inventory test, I found that I am 50% likely to suffer from a major health breakdown within the next two years as I received a score of 297. This could be understandable due to the fact that I am currently stressed and worried about university as well as other personal issues I happening in my life at the moment. These issues, especially feeling stressed about university, will most likely worsen and help cause this major breakdown. I feel that 50% is quite high and it worries me that this is quite likely to happen. Having had quite a few changes happen in my life within the past year, I feel that stress was inevitable and I am not surprised at the result I received. I am aware that these changes have had a significant impact on my life as I have left school and came to university, which is a completely different environment and requires me to be much more independent, and I have also lost a lot of friends due to leaving school. This is something which everyone expects to happen but is nonetheless still damaging to oneself. Some of the life events listed on the Holmes-Rahe test which I found applied to me are a lack of sleep, the revision of personal habits and a major change in social activities. I have found that since attending university, I have lost several hours of sleep per night from my usual routine as I try to balance uni, work and my social life. However, my social habits have still suffered as a result of time management and prioritising. This is something which causes me stress as I do not see my friends or family as much as I would like to.
The Glasgow Effect
The Glasgow Effect was a measurement of the poor health, poverty and deprivation rates in Glasgow compared to that of two other cities in England. The study found that Glasgow did indeed have the highest rate of each aspect studied, thus showing that their hypothesis was correct. It was found that the gap between life expectancies in the most deprived and affluent areas was increasing due to the poor health and poverty. ‘SHeS’ data was used to investigate differences between dietary habits in Glasgow and other areas of Scotland. It was found that poor health was partly a result of poor diet, alcohol consumption, obesity and smoking. This showed why the mortality rate for those in Glasgow was lower than that of other areas in the UK.
Overall, researchers found that they do indeed believe there is a ‘Glasgow Effect’. However, they mentioned that they cannot be completely sure or rove that this is the case due to not having enough evidence to do so and there maybe being other explanations as to why the poor health rate, deprivation and poverty levels are higher.
Inclusion, equality and disability.
In the two inputs about inclusion, equality and disability, I learned a lot about what inclusion is and also the extent to which minorities are not included or treated as equals. We learned about the individual, relational and societal levels of inclusion and how each one is important. Inclusion, being the antidote to exclusion of people due to their sexual orientation, ethnical background etc, is closely linked with equality. Equality in the workplace, in society, in relationships/friendships etc is very important as everyone deserves to have a voice and give their opinion. Allport’s scale of prejudice and discrimination shows the extent to which some people are not included and not given a voice.
We also discussed disability in detail and how people are excluded due to having a disability. We looked into the attitudes towards disability and how people treat those with a disability differently. Examples of this were discussed in the tutorial as we looked at how teachers treated students with disabilities and in each case, it seemed to be discrimination.
Religion, Culture and ‘Unchurched’ Spirituality
Religion and culture are two aspects which influence each other, according to this input. We discussed religious culture as a form of identity and as a way of life. It is clear to see that a persons religion influences how they dress and how they act etc. The theories we looked at by Karl Marx and Max Weber showed the positive and negative aspects of being dependent on a religion. Karl Marx described religion as the ‘opium of the people’ (the drug that deadens the soul). The two theorists had opposite ideas about religion and its effect on the economy, population and society as a whole.
‘Unchurched’ Spirituality are the forms of spirituality which are not involved in a church i.e. people with beliefs not associated with any churches. The pros and cons of this were discussed. My opinion is that although there are negative aspects, unchurched spirituality allows people to express their beliefs and embrace their own spirituality rather than adapting to a religion which already exists.
Religion, Society and Diversity
In this input, we discussed the true meaning of religion and what it means to be religious. The believer’s approach and the scholarly approach were looked at in detail. Upon researching these aspects and discussing the pros and cons of having a religion, I believe that it is important and beneficial to some people as it gives them hope and, in some cases, a reason to live. However, in terms of religious cults, which we looked at in detail, I feel that some religions cannot be considered healthy or of any great help to believers in any way as it is having such a negative impact on them and leading them to believe suicide is the only option they have to be pure and be with God.
We also considered religious diversity as a positive and negative aspect in society. I believe religious diversity is important as it allows everyone to expand their knowledge of other peoples religion and helps them to learn to respect other peoples beliefs.
Overall, this input gave a really good insight into the good and bad of different religions as it showed the ways in which religion helps people but also how it hinders them.
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