Title: Socioeconomic status and mental health - Wikipedia
Headings: Socioeconomic status and mental health
Socioeconomic status and mental health
Contents
Social causation
Research
Faris and Dunham (1939)
Hollingshead and Redlich (1958)
Midtown Manhattan Study (1962)
Downward drift
Research
Weich and Lewis (1998)
Isohanni et al. (2001)
Wiersma, Giel, De Jong and Slooff (1983)
Debate
Implications for schizophrenia
See also
References

Content: Socioeconomic status and mental health - Wikipedia
Socioeconomic status and mental health
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relationship between mental health and socioeconomic factors
Numerous studies around the world have found a relationship between socioeconomic status and mental health. There are higher rates of mental illness in groups with lower socioeconomic status (SES), but there is no clear consensus on the exact causative factors. The two principal models that attempt to explain this relationship are the social causation theory, which posits that socioeconomic inequality causes stress that gives rise to mental illness, and the downward drift approach, which assumes that people predisposed to mental illness are reduced in socioeconomic status as a result of the illness. Most literature on these concepts dates back to the mid-1990s and leans heavily towards the social causation model. Contents
1 Social causation
1.1 Research
1.1.1 Faris and Dunham (1939)
1.1.2 Hollingshead and Redlich (1958)
1.1.3 Midtown Manhattan Study (1962)
2 Downward drift
2.1 Research
2.1.1 Weich and Lewis (1998)
2.1.2 Isohanni et al. ( 2001)
2.1.3 Wiersma, Giel, De Jong and Slooff (1983)
3 Debate
3.1 Implications for schizophrenia
4 See also
5 References
Social causation
The social causation theory is an older theory with more evidence and research behind it. This hypothesis states that one's socioeconomic status (SES) is the cause of weakening mental functions. As Perry writes in The Journal of Primary Prevention, "members of the lower social classes experience excess psychological stress and relatively few societal rewards, the results of which are manifested in psychological disorder". The excess stress that people with low SES experience could be inadequate health care, job insecurity, and poverty, which can bring about many other psycho-social and physical stressors like crowding, discrimination, crime, etc. Thus, lower SES predisposes individuals to the development of a mental illness.