Measuring Health Essay

Measuring health only through the absence of illness is ineffective. It is necessary to have socioeconomic, emotional, psychological and physical wellness, to be healthy. And it comes from proper development as well as socioeconomic, psychological and physical factors. For instance, if a person does not have a job, his well-being and health are at stack because he might have stress which might lead to serious health problems. Similarly, in the given case scenarios Brian Maynard, Ben, and Chelsea, their health and well-being are at risk due to unemployment, single parenting, social isolation, lack of appreciation and language developmental issues. Unemployment, social isolation and lack of appreciation impact well-being negatively. Single parenting might affect the psychosocial and cognitive development of children threatening their wellbeing and health. And language development for Chelsea can be caused due behavioural, innate, lack of social interaction or cognitive problems. Hence, the paper will discuss the impact of unemployment social isolation and lack of appreciation on the individual’s health and well-being. It will also discuss the psychosocial and cognitive development of children when one parent is missing or in broken families like the single parent must provide adequate social and emotional support to the children. Lastly, the paper will examine language development and the influence of behaviour, innate linguistic abilities, social interactionist approach to language learning and cognitive language learning theories to assist Chelsea in learning the language without problems.

Economic stability is crucial for well-being as it helps to meet the needs and requirements of the needs without unnecessary stress. It affects self-esteem, self-efficacy, the locus of control and emotional stability, affecting the decision-making power as well. The skill atrophy model claims when a person losses their job and does not get a job for a longer period; their skills become outdated making the person outdated. In the case of Brian Maynard, he has to support three children, and he is a single father living away from the family, he has responsibilities that he has to meet but does not have resources. If he does not gets a job sooner, his skills will be outdated which will make him less employable as indicated by the theory. Additionally, he will lose motivation and self-confidence. Also, it leads to losing self-discipline as is happening with Brian who is trying to find an easy way out through online gambling. The second theory, the social-psychological theory of hysteresis, claims that lack of a job can affect health negatively such as self-esteem, fear and depression and helplessness. And Brian has started showing some of the negative effects of unemployment in the form of feeling lonely. The third theory of unemployment discusses that unemployment would lead to a lack of decision-making and planning power from the people due to increased stress. In the case of Brian, he has started gambling to meet financial demands to raise his family. He does not have a plan, but he is trying to meet his needs through poor planning and financial decisions. Lastly, the integrated model of well-being argues unemployment causes depression, anxiety, fear, and stress and leads to a lack of motivation, self-esteem, and confidence. Hence unemployment is a threat to the well-being of a person. Therefore, Brian must try to get employed to be able to support his family and have stronger bonds with family members and people outside of the family. It will help him overcome the problems of social isolation as well.

Social isolation can be a threat to psychological well-being and enhance the sense of emotional deprivation. In the case of Brian, living away from family, and struggling to meet the family’s needs without employment, it becomes an even bigger threat. The following theories will explain the impact of loneliness on the well-being of a person. The attachment theory emphasises that people need to form bonds and connections with others in society and every human needs social connectivity. The social need approach to loneliness identifies a need for social support to develop normally. The behavioural approach argues that loneliness is a personality trait and it contributes to social anxiety, hostility, distrust, and self-esteem. And cognitive approach claims loneliness is due to differences in perceptions and attributions. And lone people tend to be negative. All of this approach suggests that loneliness might not be due to the separation from other people. It might be an indication of aversive conditions, physical or psychological or it might be due to a lack of relationship to gain support and acceptance. This all suggests Brian’s state of isolation and emotional deprivation is due to the unemployment and living conditions that are hampering his health as well as well-being. He lives alone and does not have a job, but he has to support his family and three children which he raises as a single father. Due to all these factors, he feels lonelier, and his outlook on life is pessimistic. Loneliness is associated with personality disorders and Alzheimer’s; it is also related to depression, anxiety, and stress. Hence, the isolation will lead him to psychological disorders which are bad not only for him but the well-being of his children who depend wholly on him for emotional and financial support.

Single parenting influences the parent as well as the children. It has a negative influence on the health and well-being of the children. Single parenting doubles the parenting burden for the single parent and effects the emotional, and intellectual development of the children. It also influences the perceptions and beliefs about sex roles among children. For a single parent, it becomes difficult to manage the children financially, and emotionally and discipline the children. The father has to earn, support financially and emotionally, be a role model and build a positive relationship with the children. However, in the case of Brian, he lives away from the children but with the responsibility to support his children emotionally and economically. The sense of responsibility but his inability to support them adequately stress her out and causes fatigue. Hence, he does not have the mental peace to plan and find ways to cope with the stress which is why his health and well-being are affected. Also, it is crucial for improving the well-being of children by reducing developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Language development delays can cause academic and social problems affecting relationships, and it indicates the normal development of children. In the case of Chelsea, she is three years old and has severe asthma and eczema, and the doctor has shown concerns about language development. Some of the theories of language development explain problems with her language development. Behaviourists argue language can be stimulated in response to stimuli. They will learn language due to the stimuli from their environment. The ability to speak is more important than learning rules. Hence, Chelsea needs active stimuli from the environment to speak. She does not need to learn the rule but if she utters words that would suffice for the behaviourists. The nativists believe the children have innate abilities for learning the language. Therefore, Chelsea might be slow in developing language skills. She will develop language as she has an innate capacity to learn the language. Social interactionist considers language development depends on environmental factors as well as culture. The environmental factors would influence language acquisition, and it is not an innate ability as suggested by the Nativists. Hence, this theory will take into account the environmental conditions and the contexts in the case of Chelsea. Chelsea has asthma and eczema, it might be due to those factors, and she has problems in language development. Lastly, the cognitive theory would claim that language learning in children is a process of maturation. Children will learn a language with their growth of the child. The child will mature with time and learn a language with time. They would suggest Chelsea wait for growth and mental maturity to acquire language skills. Thus the theories suggest that delays in language development might have serious consequences for the child in building relationships and academic performance affecting the well-being of child.

Lastly, appreciating children for their efforts and positive behaviour can improve the positive behaviour of a child. In the case of Ben who is eight years old and is good at studies, his achievements are unnoticed. Appreciation and reinforcement of positive behaviour are crucial for boosting a child’s confidence. As Ben’s achievements went unnoticed, he lost confidence and became timid. He must be appreciated for his good nature instead of ignoring it. Ignoring his achievement can create low self-esteem which might lead to social anxiety in the long run affecting his overall wellbeing of Ben.

To conclude, human well-being is essential for optimising productivity and happiness. Therefore, social, cultural, economic, physical, emotional and psychological factors can create a vicious cycle of lack of health in people. Consequently, people must try to understand and overcome these factors to optimise their well-being of the people, and these factors must be addressed adequately. And each one of us must support the other in attaining optimal health and well-being. In the case of the given scenario, it was clear that one problem causes another and the welfare of a person can get hampered due to these problems. Hence proper care, love and emotional stability can play a role in minimising these problems and optimising health for the involved.