The Relationship between Social Determinant and Health - Essay Example

"The Relationship between Social Determinant and Health" is a good example of a paper on social and family issues. There are various social determinants of health, according to Marmot. They include behavior, biological factors, social and psychosocial factors (Marmot et al. 2010, p.17). This essay is going to discuss how social factors and more so poverty influences the health of individuals. Poverty affects the health of an individual in various ways discussed below (Graham, 2009, p.143).

Poverty is the cause of many health issues, at least 30% of all poor Americans have health complications like depression compared to 17% of the rest (Beck, and Alford, 2009, p.63). This is major because people living in poverty lack money to purchase balanced diet food (if they get any food at all). This, therefore, leads to the immune system of their bodies to reduce drastically and cannot hence be able to fight any little viral or bacterial infection it’s subjected to. This means that individuals living under such conditions have health problems occasionally.

As a result of the dire situation and conditions they live, poverty-stricken individuals like the homeless have no shelter to live under. This, therefore, subjects them to harsh weather conditions at night. They are therefore mainly diagnosed with cold and even serious chest conditions like pneumonia. This leads them to be even less productive and poverty continues (Evans, et al 2011, p.132).

According to Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development, individuals in this developmental stage of growth are expected to have succeeded and start contributing positively to the community by being generative; failure to achieve this leads to stagnation (Newman, and Newman, 2011, p.245). Many individuals in this stage, therefore, have constant pressure to try and achieve that. They, therefore, become stressed due to that social pressure and in the long run, it leads to depression (Gidley, 2007, p.87).

The poverty that was not in the family from the beginning is hard may put a toll on some family members. This may lead to the development of mental illness since it is a new scenario for such individuals. The individuals may develop somatic disorders due to mental pressure (Dimsdale, et al 2009, p.87).

In a bid to also fit into the new social group against their will, they start developing symptoms of physical illnesses without them having any physical illness. This may also be said to be partly as a defense mechanism to stay away from the group. If the individual does not leave the group, the somatic disorders may make him/her be admitted to mental hospitals (Sheehy, 2006, p.180).

The above examples are among the few which provide evidence of the relationship between poverty as a social determinant of health in individuals (Scriven, and Garman, 2007, p.53). Medical sociologists and health psychologists, therefore, have made it their duty to collaborate with other health professionals in a bid to advise the society on how to take care of their social issues in order to remain healthy (Bradby, 2009, p.156).

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