Culture and Health Attitudes
United States and China Health Attitudes
PSYC3540 Culture, Ethnicity, and Diversity
U05a1 Culture and Health Attitudes
Capella University
November, 2012
United States and China Health Attitudes Although every culture has different belief of being healthy, they all share the same definition. According to Mastsumoto and Juang (2013) healthy is defined as, “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity” (p. 180). Not only do it takes physically, mentally, and socially well-being but diseases free to be classified as healthy in all cultures. The United States and the China culture share many differences and similarities when it comes to the belief of being healthy. Recently, there was an interview between a twenty-five year old Chinese girl and me. This girl owned her own business. She was born and raised in China but moved to the United States when she turned twenty years old. She told me she learned that China and the United States share many differences and similarities toward being healthy. The Chinese girl told me in the interviewed in China, they mainly believe in the principle of yin and yang to be healthy. According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia (2012), “The concept of yin and yang is also applicable to the human body; for example, the upper part of the body and the back are assigned to yang which is cold foods, while the lower parts of the body are believed to have the yin character which is hot foods. Yin and yang characterization also extends to the various body functions, and – more importantly – to disease symptoms (e.g., cold and heat sensations are assumed to be yin and yang symptoms, respectively).” Yin and yang is what Chinese people use as a balance between good and bad health. They believe that imbalance of yin or yang is what leads to poor health. For example, if a person eats too much of yin, which might be spicy foods, they are told that the yin caused them to
PSYC3540 Culture, Ethnicity, and Diversity
U05a1 Culture and Health Attitudes
Capella University
November, 2012
United States and China Health Attitudes Although every culture has different belief of being healthy, they all share the same definition. According to Mastsumoto and Juang (2013) healthy is defined as, “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being not merely the absence of diseases or infirmity” (p. 180). Not only do it takes physically, mentally, and socially well-being but diseases free to be classified as healthy in all cultures. The United States and the China culture share many differences and similarities when it comes to the belief of being healthy. Recently, there was an interview between a twenty-five year old Chinese girl and me. This girl owned her own business. She was born and raised in China but moved to the United States when she turned twenty years old. She told me she learned that China and the United States share many differences and similarities toward being healthy. The Chinese girl told me in the interviewed in China, they mainly believe in the principle of yin and yang to be healthy. According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia (2012), “The concept of yin and yang is also applicable to the human body; for example, the upper part of the body and the back are assigned to yang which is cold foods, while the lower parts of the body are believed to have the yin character which is hot foods. Yin and yang characterization also extends to the various body functions, and – more importantly – to disease symptoms (e.g., cold and heat sensations are assumed to be yin and yang symptoms, respectively).” Yin and yang is what Chinese people use as a balance between good and bad health. They believe that imbalance of yin or yang is what leads to poor health. For example, if a person eats too much of yin, which might be spicy foods, they are told that the yin caused them to