Socioeconomic Status

Pollution continues to pose an enormous threat to residents of urban cities worldwide. In the August 2008 Monthly Update, it is stated that approximately 800,000 deaths each year can be attributed to outdoor air pollution, making pollution the single most harmful environmental hazard to human health in urban areas (Kallman). The fact that pollution kills hundreds of thousands of people each year alone portrays just how dangerous living in these conditions can be. Kallman writes about a study which proves an increase in upper respiratory diseases, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality, and low birth weights when exposed to air pollutants (August 2008: Monthly Update). These can be very serious diseases and complications which, when contracted, can lead to death or very serious illnesses. There

The next piece of evidence showing environmental determinants to health is the air samples taken from the African American community’s residents. Moreover, the air samples taken from the Norco residents living close to the refinery show higher levels of toluidine and benzene, known cancer and disease causing chemicals, than averages from the rest

This neighborhood is very culturally diverse and has a wide range of ages. There are both young and older families living in their neighborhood. Some aspects of the community that could affect resident's health are air pollution, aging populations, and noise disturbances. According to Health People 2020 leading health indicator for this population is environmental hazards. Some populations are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards. As a result, health disparities exist. Exposures to environmental

Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status which can include levels of wealth, success, power of authority, and influence. Status is can be defined or grouped having common economic, cultural, or political interests.

Socioeconomic Status is where a particular person or group of people stand in regards to social class. The main measurement that determines one's socioeconomic status is level of education, occupation and income. Although it may not be considered a factor in child development, socioeconomic status can actually play a huge role in determining what kind of adolescent a child develops into. It can influence a child’s morals, self-esteem, grades and many more aspects of a child's life. Socioeconomic status can play a role in determining where a person resides, the occupation they end up getting, their education and their income as well. So, although one’s socioeconomic status is technically made up of these aspects, one can be born into a low socioeconomic status which could result in them continuing to have one throughout their life. It is a cycle that one must break in order to change the outcome. Low socioeconomic status can result in child poverty. Child poverty over the years has risen and fallen but has remained consistently apparent in America. Child poverty can have detrimental effects on developing children and adolescents. It may influence the way they are raised, taught, cared for and many more aspects of the child's life which are important for successful development. Low socioeconomic status can determine how well children and adolescents develop and the type of person they develop into, including

For decades American society has recognized that industries within our country consistently pump toxins into our air and water, which are hazardous to the environment and all the residents of the area. As for a lesser known fact, the impacts of industry have often been unevenly distributed amongst social groups: Otherwise known as environmental inequality. Current theories on environmental inequality have commonly concluded that the phenomenon has two major factors, race and class. The effects of environmental inequality vary across time place and population. Based on my research, mapping, and statistics I was unable to attribute this issue to a dominant factor. Like many cities

This journal serves as a quintessential and pertinent model for our project. There are a myriad of variables in why minorities continue to face health disparities. This journal analytically provides the backdrop in how cancer incidence, mortality, and survival rates corresponds to one's race and socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status is one of the greatest implications leading to the production of cancer, if not remedy. Socioecomonic status is an umbrella term used in this article which includes poverty, inadequate education, lack of health insurance, tobacco use, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and obesity.

Socioeconomic status influences health care quality and outcomes. Patients of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to have worse self-reported health, lower life expectancy, and suffer from more chronic conditions when compared with those of higher socioeconomic status. As a result, patients of lower socioeconomic status, in which we will encounter throughout our career’s, require more care and attention during their visits due to this lack of access. These individuals typically need the most care and unfortunately, we will not see them as often compared to other socioeconomic groups. An additional additive for this population may include providing them with take home exercises in which they are able to perform on their own. That is if they are invested enough to complete them without further supervision. While some hospitals are willing to revise their current policies, to basically “write off” the lower class, we as athletic trainers have to be advocates for these individuals who make up the majority of the population. The first step that we can take involves going a step above to the school board and asking for better nutritional options regarding school lunches. Most school lunch options fail to include fresh alternatives consisting of mostly processed food that can be easily distributed to a large number of students. Another way in which we can promote healthy eating habits is by utilizing social media to share coupons and local grocery store ads to the parents of

While obesity and overweight levels have been rising for all socioeconomic groups, some groups of people are more affected than others. Relationships between socioeconomic status and obesity undoubtedly have complex explanations. Some studies have shown that people with low socioeconomic status are more likely to be overweight or obese than people with high socioeconomic status. Author also emphasizes that socioeconomic status causes disparities in health and shorten longevity for those who are most disadvantaged. The relationship between overweight or obesity and income is varies by race and ethnicity. For example, in a household with less than $10,000 of annual income about 33 percent of blacks are obese, about 26 percent of Hispanics, and about 19 percent of whites. Culture, race and ethnicity play an important role in determining the obesity rate. Critser emphasizes certain studies that show minority groups tend to have drastically higher obesity and weight related disease rates than

Everyone today contributes to pollution in some way or another. Daily routines such as driving to work or cooking release hazardous gases and numerous other toxins in the air. The same toxins released can cause harm to the lungs or even kill due to the carcinogens. Not only does the polluted air harm people but the effect to the planet is vast as well. Issues such as global warming, acid rain, and droughts are evidently linked to polluted air. Though pollution is not solely based in the air, many other forms exist as well like water, radioactive, and thermal/heat pollution. Yet the sad reality is, many people are exposed to it far more than others because of their ethnic backgrounds or for poverty based reasons. Communities with lower income

Believe it or not education has an interrelationship with marriage. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that women that are more-educated with a bachelor's degree have a greater probability of having a long-term marriage at 78% compared to women who get married right out of high school who have a 40% chance (College Ed. and Marriage. Pew Research). Divorce decreases for individuals who have a higher education, high incomes and steady jobs, a person who waits until later in life, and

Any community, irrespective of poor or affluent conditions, racial and ethnic backgrounds and the disparities of education and income levels, should work towards building a healthy atmosphere and a better quality of life. Enhanced understanding of the dynamics of the community and the necessary resources to be mobilized in improving the air quality, comes with health education. Thus the first step in any policy directed at eliminating the environmental burden on minorities should be public health education. Taking into account the cultural and educational differences, various suitable resources should be identified and utilized. Secondly, the communities might not be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of deteriorated air quality by themselves and thus it falls upon the healthcare professionals to recognize them and inform the appropriate officials, especially when there is a sudden surge of cases (Boyce et al. 2013). Third, the communities should be provided a legal recourse to help them understand the hazards they face and also to voice their concerns to authorities. While designing mechanisms to reduce air pollution, local authorities must take into account the vulnerabilities of the minority populations. EPA, along with the environmental justice programs, provides many monitoring and air pollution reduction programs. It is important to include the minority groups in these endeavors and tailor the programs according to their needs. It should be remembered that cultural competence plays a key role in all of these

Hazards and pollutants are apparent in a variety of outcomes. Possible outcomes include asthma, cancer and chemical poisoning (Gee and Payne-Sturges 2004: 1647). Furthermore, “Although debated, the main hypothesis explaining these disparities is that disadvantaged communities encounter greater exposure to environmental toxins such as air pollution, pesticides, and lead” (Gee and Payne-Sturges 2004: 1647). Therefore, disadvantaged groups, such as people of color and the poor, experience greater environmental risks. Additionally, “Blacks in particular are exposed to a disproportionate amount of pollution and suffer the highest levels of lead and pesticide poisoning and other associated health problems” (Jones and Rainey 2006: 474). People of color, essentially, compete to live healthily. For example, African-Americans and Africans alike, struggle with the negative affects of oil refineries and unresponsive governments. The same can be said for Hispanics in California and the natives of Ecuador, who are forced to cope with the pollution of the Texaco oil refineries (Bullard 2001: 4). Environmental racism not only exploits natural resources, it abuses and profits from the communities involved. Governments and polluting facilities will continue to capitalize on the economic susceptibilities of poor communities, states, nations and regions for their “unsound” and hazardous operations (Bullard 2001: 23).

This essay will be discussing the extent to which social class and poverty affects health and illness. Firstly, what is social class? Each person’s perception of social class can be different; is social class defined by a person’s accent, the area they live in, or something as simple as their income? Project Britain describes social class as “The grouping of people by occupations and lifestyle”. (Cress, 2014). To find social class Sociologists group people according to common factors, they compare people and various criteria can be conveniently used to place people in social groups or classes. Next we ask the question what determines a person’s health, the NHS defines health as “Physical and mental, it is the absence of disease”. (NHS 2017).

Socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences. Several ways of measuring SES have been proposed, but most include some quantification of family income, parental education, and occupational status. Research shows that SES is associated with a wide variety of health, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes in children, with effects beginning prior to birth and continuing into adulthood. A variety of mechanisms linking SES to child well-being have been proposed, with most involving differences in access to material and social resources. For children, SES impacts well-being at multiple levels.