Effects of social status on health - Essay Example

We begins with defining socio-economic status (SES) as an important quantifiable determinant of health - pointing out the evidence from various papers about the direct role of SES in producing various levels of health quality. Several studies from Canada and Great Britain have been mentioned in this respect. The conclusion is that those with the poorest socio-economic status within a society are the most vulnerable to suffer from ill-health.The concept of the social gradient in producing inequalities in the distribution of healthcare resources within one's own country is discussed next, which is an important way to re-interpreting the effect of social status on one's health.

This therefore introduces the concept of one's relative standing within one's country that matters most. The example that is quoted is that of cardiovascular disease, which is rare in France, irrespective of one's socioeconomic status, whereas it is commonplace in the U.S.(Wilkinson 1962). In addition, the findings of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (1991) study is quoted which shows that more someone earns in the last 12 years of his working life, the more he is likely to live longer.

The actual mediating factors that lead to this disparity according to social status are discussed next. It has been postulated that class difference gives rise to differences in both vulnerability and exposure to the different 'stressors' that in turn determine our health quality. One of the possible factors in this respect is thought to be the degree of control on has over his or her personal life that dictate how much health-related problems stress can cause. (Krause,1987). The inter-connectedness between the social and biological factors that affect a person's life are discussed next, with the quality of relationships an important factor in determining someone's state of happiness and health.

(Kiecolt-Glasier, Malarkey & Cacioppo et al, 1994). While the role of emotions on our health has been acknowledged to an understudied area at present, they are thought to be intimately connected to stress and our well-being. Race and employment are another two social factors that have been discussed in relation to social status that determines our health status. Finally, the indirect effects of social status have been discussed too as important. They relate to the nutritional choices, exercise, smoking and other conscious lifestyle choices that determine our heath status, and are strongly connected to our social class too.

Although they are individually important as health determinants, they are classed as 'indirect' due to the assumption that our social status influences our health habits, and indirectly affects our health. As the Ontario Government paper Nurturing Health (1991) points out, it is not money per se, but the facilities that money buy, that determine our health habit choices. 2. A paragraph that supports the author's main points particularly well reads ; "A factor that social structure affects, such as nutrition, that in turn affects health, has what is called an indirect effect.." (Page 98,Paragraph2). 3. The author in this paragraph summarizes the difference between direct and indirect social structure factors, and concludes that it has a 'double impact on our health' because these direct and indirect factors act together to produce their effects on our health.

It supports the author's previous arguments as he has attempted to explore the relationships of the different variables that constitute social structure itself - like education, income, race, gender which can be directly studied to be associated with different health levels. By contrast, he has also explored the many factors of personal lifestyle choices that are related to one's social status and personal characteristics, and are strongly