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Gender, social mobility and psychiatric diagnoses
1Department of Applied Social Science, University of Stirling, Scotland, UK.
Social Science & Medicine (1982)
|May 8, 1998
Summary
Psychiatric disorder incidence is linked to social mobility, with "drift" (downward mobility) playing a larger role than "social causation" (origins). This impacts diagnoses like schizophrenia and substance abuse, particularly for those outside the workforce.
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Psychiatry
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Socio-economic status (SES) and social mobility are associated with health inequalities.
- The relationship between parental SES, social mobility, and psychiatric disorder incidence requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between psychiatric disorder incidence, parental SES, and intergenerational social mobility.
- To compare the "drift" and "social causation" hypotheses regarding health inequalities.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a Swedish cohort born in 1953, studied from 1953 to 1983.
- Assessment of parental SES at age 10 and individual SES at age 27.
- Examination of in-patient treatment incidence for psychiatric disorders.
Main Results:
- Overall in-patient treatment rates did not differ between men and women, but individual diagnoses did (e.g., higher schizophrenia and substance abuse in men; higher neurosis in women).
- Strong association between psychiatric disorder and own SES, especially for those not in the workforce.
- Schizophrenia and neurosis showed strong "drift" effects; substance abuse linked to downward mobility and low social origins.
Conclusions:
- The "drift" hypothesis better explains psychiatric disorder inequalities than the "social causation" hypothesis, with variations by gender and diagnosis.
- Parental SES had limited association with disorder incidence, except for substance abuse.
- Downward social mobility and low social origins are implicated in substance abuse incidence.