What are the patterns of adapting to health?
The Patterns of Adapting to Health (PATH) are naturally occurring patterns that underlie the expression of adult response to diverse health-related contexts. Operating much like a system of attractors within a complex system, hundreds of thousands of adults unknowingly conform to these patterns across every region of the United States, with each attractor defining a different trajectory of health and associated health outcomes.
The patterns were identified by Dr. Frederick Navarro as a graduate student in psychological research investigating the natural self-organization of the meaning and motivation of health-related actions among adults in the United States using a psychographic methodology. The image below is an example of one of the "attractors":
The patterns were identified by Dr. Frederick Navarro as a graduate student in psychological research investigating the natural self-organization of the meaning and motivation of health-related actions among adults in the United States using a psychographic methodology. The image below is an example of one of the "attractors":
Graph Explanation. In the image, levels closer to 1.0 indicate avoidance of the health context while numbers closer to 5.0 indicate stronger engagement in the context. For example, adults conforming to this pattern show strong avoidance of health care due to cost concern (priced focuses, shop to save) but not due to distrust of doctors. So, the pattern also captures what drives motivations.
A Question of Free Will?
The presence of such patterns underlying a wide range of behaviors is supported by many empirical studies across diverse populations. The most interesting aspect of these patterns is that they suggest adult health-related behavior is not totally driven by free will. As adults dynamically adapt to health, the expression of their actions is constrained by these patterns like the flow of water down a canal. Each individual water molecule moves randomly in the flow, but the flow as a whole follows the path and shape of the canal. Likewise, while an adult's unique response to some health issue is freely chosen, over time the whole of their adaptive behavior across all health contexts is shaped by the influence of the pattern, with one very often dominant.
