References

Bhatia, T. (2013, September 19). Another Angle on Childhood Obesity -- Empower the Child. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tasneem-bhatia-md/childhood-obesity-_b_3932559.html

Mooney, L. A., Knox, D., & Schacht, C. (2013). Understanding social problems. (8th ed., pp. 1-514). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Poku, N. K. (2002). Poverty, Debt and Africa's HIV/AIDS Crisis. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), 78(3), 531-546.

Smith, R. (1985). "I Feel Really Ashamed": How Does Unemployment Lead To Poorer Mental Health?. British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition), 291(6506), 1409-1412.

Obesity

For the last topic I chose to discuss obesity, because I feel it is one of the most prominent and pressing social problems that United States (and Mexico) are facing. Two-thirds of adults in the United States are regarded as overweight and obesity is the second biggest cause of preventable deaths in the United States (Mooney, Knox, & Schacht, 2013).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tasneem-bhatia-md/childhood-obesity-_b_3932559.html

Bhatia, T. (2013, September 19). Another Angle on Childhood Obesity -- Empower the Child. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tasneem-bhatia-md/childhood-obesity-_b_3932559.html

This link will take you to a Huffington Post article written by Tasneem Bhatia, M.D. wherein she discusses the obesity problem in America. However, more importantly she offers a way to try to solve the problem, which is empowering the child. She calls for a curriculum in schools that teachers self control, discipline and respect for the body, and I agree with her on this front.

I chose this picture to symbolize obesity because it displays some statistics about childhood obesity, but it also shows how to attempt to solve the problem (daily activity, limiting junk food, being supportive, etc.)

This video from the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) posted to YouTube describes the topic of obesity because it focuses on an individual's fight with obesity, more specifically, morbid obesity, which has a higher risk for developing diabetes and heart disease.

"The lack of access to proper nutrition is not only fueling obesity, it is leading to food insecurity and hunger among our children." - Tom Vilsack

This quote by Tom Vilsack represents my feelings on obesity because it shows how not only is obesity a major problem but shows how it can affect other social problems, such as hunger. This is important because it shows how large of a problem obesity really is.

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

This link directs to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site regarding obesity facts among adults which I think is important to understand as in this post I have discussed mostly childhood obesity, but adult obesity is a major problem as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/01/04/mexico.obesity/

This link will take you to a CNN article and video about how obesity is a problem in Mexico as well. I wanted to include this because it shows how obesity is not just a problem in the United States but that it is a problem on the global scale.

Unemployment

I chose unemployment, which is discussed in chapter 7, as my topic for this post because with the economic climate the way it is, I think that unemployment is a very real social problem that affects individuals, their children, and families in general as well as all of society. Unemployment could also continue to grow in America and thus I think it is a social problem to be discussed.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/29521294

Smith, R. "I Feel Really Ashamed": How Does Unemployment Lead To Poorer Mental Health?. British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition), 291, 1409-1412.

This link directs to an article written by Richard Smith that discusses the effects of being unemployed on mental health. This article actually showcases two social problems: unemployment and mental health and shows how one problem can impact another.

This photograph symbolizes unemployment because it displays how prevalent unemployment is and how much of a concern it should be to Americans.

"And that's just the beginning. More and more, conventional wisdom says that the responsible thing is to make the unemployed suffer. And while the benefits from inflicting pain are an illusion, the pain itself will be all too real."-Paul Krugman

This quote represents my feelings on unemployment because it seems like there is definitely a stigma against the unemployed with how the unemployed are seen as lazy. However in reality the pain the unemployed face and the potential pain that it inflicts on society is a very real social problem.

This video from CBS News regarding unemploymeny is relevant because it discusses individuals' experience with unemployment and it even discusses how it affects mental health with how unemployment "erodes self-confidence".

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
This link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the unemployment rate by month all the way back to 1948.

http://www.deptofnumbers.com/unemployment/demographics/

This link to the Department of Numbers site, shows unemployment rates broken into the demographic groups of education, race, gender and age.

HIV/AIDS

The topic I chose to discuss for my first topic is HIV/AIDS. Before I read the textbook for class I had no idea that HIV was as prevalent as it is in Africa (one in four adults has it in Swaziland). The HIV/AIDS topic is from the second chapter of the textbook. I chose it because I think it is one of the most interesting topics from the book as it is a very prevalent virus/disease that is a problem that needs to continue to be addressed.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3095889


Poku, N. K. (). Poverty, Debt and Africa's HIV/AIDS Crisis. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), 78, 531-546.

This link redirects to a scholarly article written by Nana Poku. The article is relevant to the chosen topic because it provides statistics for how devastating the virus/disease is to Africa ("28 million people are now thought to be living with HIV or AIDS"). The article also discusses how poverty has played a role in the virus in Africa.

This image provides a visual representation of the devastation that has been and continues to be caused by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

This video clip discusses what HIV/AIDS are and what they do to the human body to give the viewer a better understanding of  how it attacks the body.

"Our meaning is to make our little planet Earth a better place to live, to stop wars, disarm nuclear missiles, to stop diseases, AIDS, plague, cancer and to stop pollution"- Uri Geller

This quote represents my feelings on HIV/AIDS because it showcases how important people think it is and how large of a social problem it is that it is mentioned in the same breath as wars, nuclear warfare and cancer.

http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/statistics/

This link redirects to a site showing numerous AIDS statistics for the United States. I wanted to include this because most of the alarming statistics regarding AIDS come from Africa but AIDS is also a major problem in the United States as well.

http://www.amfar.org/about-hiv-and-aids/facts-and-stats/statistics--worldwide/

This link also shows many statistics regarding AIDS but expands to show the prevalence of HIV/AIDS worldwide. Other links on this site redirect to more specific AIDS statistics such as how HIV/AIDS affects women.