Socioeconomic Status

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

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.

Furthermore, research on aging and eldercare also show a propensity that socioeconomic status should be taken into consideration, according to Bookman and Kimbrel (2011). The authors contend that African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American communities, and other groups also bring their cultural strengths and demands to the caregiving experience (Bookman & Kimbrel,

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

Another study concerning socioeconomic status was done by a group of researchers including Vonetta Dotson, Melissa Kitner-Triolo, Michele Evans, and Alan Zonderman. They examined test scores from low and high socioeconomic status African Americans and Whites in order to determine if socioeconomic status and/or race affect cognitive abilities. The researchers hypothesized that proficiency in literacy would be a better predictor of cognitive abilities than years of education, especially for people of low socioeconomic status and African Americans (Dotson, Kitner-Triolo, Evans, & Zonderman, 2009). In order to measure the theory, cognitive tests from participants were examined and demographic questions were asked to determine incomes and race.

So, what was socioeconomic status? What were the components that constructed socioeconomic status? Socioeconomic status was defined by multiple factors: educational attainment, income, occupational prestige, wealth, and much more. Educational attainment component of socioeconomic status had a long term prevalence on a person’s health. Research shown that children who grew up in low-socioeconomic status households and communities developed academic skills more slowly than other children. Some potential reasons was the lack of literacy in their environment, chronic stress, under resource, inadequate education provided in an area, and much more influenced an individual’s opportunity of learning at an early age (American). The lack of literacy in an environment was attributed

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

According to a study done in the US (WHO, 2010), persons with lower socioeconomic status had higher levels of PM2.5 exposure than those of a higher status. This was based on the following indicators: Unemployment, education, earnings and poverty. The study revealed that persons with education less than a high school degree had higher exposures than those with a high school degree. This is also true for the unemployed, those in the poverty range as well as those with lower earnings than those of a higher status.

Socioeconomic status measures as a combination of education and income. Poverty levels have similarities of lower education and poor health for children’s and families. Little has been found to understand how poor, single African American mothers view marriage as a strategy to end poverty and their reliance on welfare (Deborah, H., & Domeinco, P,2008). A strong influence on academic level on socioeconomic status within the United States. The delayed of marriage by college-educated women have benefited from marriage later than other demographic groups. Higher education impacted the age and length of marriage. Likewise, women who graduated from high school or some college education have approximately 30 percent and 20 percent lower odds

Socioeconomic status has a large effect on poverty rates and occupational status. Commonly, an individual within the lower social classes tends to fall under the poverty line as well. Individuals who live in a low socioeconomic status area and/or are below the poverty line, commonly reside in living conditions that could increase the spread of disease and illness. A low socioeconomic status also means that healthy food is either unaffordable or too far away from resources that provide adequate food. For those in poverty, or with a low SES, this could result in overall poorer health, or even malnutrition.

Health insurance is a result of socioeconomic status that must be looked at by health care providers. Low socioeconomic status individuals usually cannot afford privatized health care insurance. If they can afford health insurance, it is commonly public insurance such as; Medicare and Medicaid. However, public health insurance is rarely accepted by physicians because privatized health insurance is more reliable. This means that less educated individuals have less access to health care based on if they carry insurance, or the type of health insurance they carry. Similarly, poorer people must travel farther than wealthier folks to get medical attention. Low SES individuals are less likely to get care until serious conditions arise because it is not of adequate access or affordability. However, low socioeconomic status areas that do have near by clinics and accept public health insurance are overcrowded. This is a major risk for the health care field because the spread of disease in an overcrowded clinic lowers the health of society. Socioeconomic status includes education levels, occupational status, and social class which all attribute to the effects of poverty, the overall health of society, health care accessibility, and health insurance affordability.

Socioeconomic conditions may prevent patients from adhering to discharge instructions, such as not filling prescriptions for medications or failure to attend follow-up visits with physicians. Ho and colleagues reviewed patients after drug-eluting stent placements, to determine whether there was a delay in filling prescriptions for clopidogrel once they were discharged from hospital. In a sample of 7402 patients, 1 in 6 did not fill the prescribed clopidogrel on the day of discharge. The study clearly indicates a gap in the discharge teaching when the patient does not comprehend the reason and necessity to fill the prescription to preserve the stent. This is supported by Williams and colleagues’ studies, in which patients with low health literacy

The article that I chose investigated whether socioeconomic status predicts mortality in people infected with HIV, whether it is because of poverty, homelessness, lack of education, etc. It was extremely interesting to read and I thought the study was conducted extremely well and with a social conscious.