The subject of mental health has attracted the attention of scholars and experts around the world. In the recent years, researchers have acknowledged that mental health is critical to the development of the society and achievement of societal goals. In addition, mental health is considered to be one of the factors that will affect the kind of life that people live in different settings. Some of the common mental health problems include depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder ( Willis, 2020 ). The individuals who have these mental health conditions are also at risk of suffering from other physical conditions that may lead to premature death. It is for this reason that there has been increased awareness regarding the subject of human health in the society. In addition, attempts have been made to identify the potential risks factors that can cause mental health problems. One of the areas where researchers have focused on when it comes to examining possible causes of mental health is social status. A person’s social status in the community will depend on his or her socio-economic background. Those who are from the disadvantaged backgrounds will belong to the lower social status and many struggle to meet their healthcare needs. Available research evidence shows that there is a significant association between social status and mental health.
The association between social class and mental health among people of different ages has been explored in previous studies. Willis (2020), for instance, stated that there is a growing number of studies showing the possible correlation between socio-economic background and the risk of depression among students. The author also stated that people from the low social classes experience challenges such as food insecurity that may affect their physical and mental health. It is against this background that the researchers conducted study using survey data and a random sample of 300 students of college going age to determine the prevalence of food insecurity and mental health complications (Willis, 2020). The students were drawn from a sample of learners at an urban university found in Midwest region, United States. The regression analysis that was done during the study showed that the subjective social status of the respondents mediated the correlation between mental health and food insecurity. In addition, the researchers showed that food security among people from the low social class was a major determinant of their level of mental health.
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Assari et al. (2018) also examined the effect of social status on mental health by focusing on a population of African Americans. The researchers noted that the protective effect of socioeconomic status and family structure against physical and mental health is a subject that has been established in previous studies. However, most of the investigations have been done in specific communities with the focus being on comparing the wellbeing of the whites and the African Americans. In their study, Assari et al. (2018) conducted a longitudinal investigation using a sample population of 1781 youths. The participants were followed over a period of 15 years to determine how socioeconomic status was affecting their physical and mental health. In this case, the social status was determined based on the level of education and income. The study showed that socioeconomic status had a protective effect on both the mental and physical wellbeing of the participants. Those who came from the high-income families were less likely to develop serious mental and physical health complications. The authors explained the findings by stating that such children had access to safe and quality services. In addition, they could access critical and professional mental health services when diagnosed with mental complications. In the long run, their high socioeconomic status had a protective effect on their mental wellbeing.
Richards and Paskov (2016) conducted a study to examine how social class, employment and psychological wellbeing are related. The authors opined that recent works have revealed that there is a class gradient that is related to mental health and social economic status. Richards and Paskov (2016) used data from a previous cross-sectional survey and records from the Health Survey of England to explore the potential relationship between social status, employment, and mental wellbeing. From the data collected, the researchers found out that employment status was an important cofounder factor that affected the mental health of a person. In addition, the researchers opted that there is a significant correlation between mental wellbeing and social status. Another major finding that was reported in the study is that both skilled and unskilled manual workers were facing higher risk of psychological disorders compared to those who were not in such kinds of labor. The widening class inequality can also mean that there is a specific group of people who may be having a high risk of mental wellbeing.
Similar findings were reported in another study which was done by Han and Lee (2013) to examine the association between mental health and social capital. According to the author, only few studies have been done to examine the link between mental health and social status based on the subject of social capital. Therefore, there is a need to carry out further multilevel analysis to determine how social capital was affecting the mental wellbeing of different people. The researchers used a cross-sectional method and data collected through the Seoul Welfare Panel Study by the Seoul Welfare Foundation. The researchers reported three primary findings that can help examine the relationship between mental health and social status. The first finding is that there was a significant link between organizational participation, perceived helpfulness, and mental health. The researcher further state that perceived helpfulness among the participants had a positive relationship with the degree of mental health. However, the relationship could be affected by the contextual level of social capital. Finally, it was reported that the main dimensions of social capital may affect a person’s mental health to different degrees.
A recent study that was done by Jin, Zhu and He (2020) also examined the interrelationship between depressive symptoms and poverty level among Chinese people. The study was motivated by the desire to add to the existing body of literature on the bidirectional link between depressive symptoms and poverty level. In most instances, the social class in a community depends on the level of income. Those who are poor are usually categorized as members of the low social class. Their counterparts who are wealthy or rich tend to be grouped into the high social classes. The researchers gathered data from a total of 17250 students who we above the age of 45 years and living in China. The data had been gathered in a previous study that was done between the years 2011 and 2012. Based on the data, the researchers reported that there was a significant impact of poverty on depressive symptoms during the baseline. The researchers also reported that the deterioration of the living and housing conditions, coupled with reduced social participation in communal activities, resulted in severe depressive symptoms. Zhu and He (2020) concluded that poverty is a major determinant of social status that can affect the mental wellbeing of a person.
Zell, Strickhouser, and Krizan (2018) conducted a study to analyze the risks factors that are associated with mental health. The researchers noted that there have been concerns about the possible link between subjective social status and the mental health in the society. Using a sample 38 studies, the authors examined how social status could influence the psychological wellbeing of a person. The studies that were included contained a total sample population of 142,836 people. The data showed that there was a significant association between society ladder, community ladder and mental health being. In addition, the study showed that the people who belonged to the high social status were less likely to develop mental health complications. In this sense, position in the social and community ladder were found to be important social determinants that influence the wellbeing of people. In addition, the social status can determine the psychological wellbeing of a person.
Conclusion
The subject of mental health has been a subject of concern in the contemporary world. It is an issue that affects the kind of life that people live in their communities. Therefore, attempts have been made to identify the factors and issues that may increase or lower the risk of mental health problems in the community. In this review, the focus was on determining how social class and status affected the risk and prevalence of mental health complications. The study entailed reviewing different sources related to the subject under investigation. All the six studies that were reviewed showed that there was a significant link between mental health and social status. Those who belong to the high social classes face a reduced risk of mental illnesses compared to their counterparts from the less privileged societies. While the studies offer vital information on the subject of mental health, there is a need for further investigations on the confounding factors that may affect the correlation between the variables.
References
Assari, S., Thomas, A., Caldwell, C. H., & Mincy, R. B. (2018). Blacks' diminished health return of family structure and socioeconomic status; 15 years of follow-up of a national urban sample of youth. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine , 95 (1), 21–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-017-0217-3
Han, S., & Lee, H. S. (2013). Individual, household and administrative area levels of social capital and their associations with mental health: a multi-level analysis of cross-sectional evidence. The International journal of social psychiatry , 59 (7), 716–723. https://doi.org/10.1177/002076401245323
Jin, Y., Zhu, D., & He, P. (2020). Social causation or social selection? The longitudinal interrelationship between poverty and depressive symptoms in China. Social science & medicine (1982) , 249 , 112848. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112848
Richards, L., & Paskov, M. (2016). Social class, employment status and inequality in psychological well-being in the UK: Cross-sectional and fixed effects analyses over two decades. Social Science & Medicine (1982) , 167 , 45–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.042
Willis, D.E. (2020). Feeding inequality: food insecurity, social status and college student health. Sociology of Health & Illness , 43 (1), 220-237
Zell, E., Strickhouser, J. E., & Krizan, Z. (2018). Subjective social status and health: A meta- analysis of community and society ladders. Health Psychology: Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association , 37 (10), 979–987. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000667
