Sociocultural variation in sick role behavioural expectations

Social Science & Medicine (1967)Published 1 January 1976

Alexander Segall

Citations31

TL;DR

The study revealed that the Anglo-Saxon Protestant patients objected to the dependency upon others which accompanies the adoption of the sick role, but were as willing as the Jewish patients to accept the other dimensions of the role, such as the sick person's obligation to try to get well and to seek competent help.

Abstract

The general objectives of the present study were to determine: (1) how closely lay expectations regarding the rights and duties of the sick role correspond to the Parsonian conceptual model; and (2) whether systematic sociocultural differences exist in perception of and willingness to adopt the sick role. The study focused upon the sick role behavioral expectations held by hospitalized Anglo-Saxon Protestant and Jewish female patients. The two groups of patients displayed basically the same expectations in regard to the sick role, although their perception of the way in which a sick person should "ideally" behave offered little support for the Parsonian model. The study also revealed that the Anglo-Saxon Protestant patients objected to the dependency upon others which accompanies the adoption of the sick role, but were as willing as the Jewish patients to accept the other dimensions of the role, such as the sick person's obligation to try to get well and to seek competent help.

Keywords

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