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Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health

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Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

In 1912, the British luxury liner, the Titanic, struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. This accident was one of the worst marine disasters ever, with two-thirds of the more than 2,200 persons aboard losing their lives. As the Titanic sank, women and children had preferential access to the lifeboats. However, the death rates for women on the Titanic were not random but strikingly linked to their social status. Among women passengers aboard the Titanic, only 3% of first-class passengers lost their lives, compared to 16% of second-class passengers, and 45% of those in third class (Carroll & Smith, 1997); that is, the quality and cost of accommodation, a marker of social ranking, clearly predicted the probability of survival. The relationship between social location and survival is not unique to the Titanic. A positive association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health has been found for most indicators of health status in virtually every society where it has been examined (Adler, Boyce, Chesney, Folkman, & Syme, 1993; Antonovsky 1967; Bunker, Gomby, & Kehrer, 1989; Krieger et al., 1993; Marmot, Kogevinas, & Elston, 1987; Williams, 1990; Williams,& Collins, 1995). Mental health status is no exception to this pattern. Sociologists have long noted that one of the most firmly established patterns in the social distribution of psychiatric morbidity is an inverse association between SES and mental illness (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1969).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA

    Yan Yu

  2. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48106, USA

    David R. Williams

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  1. Yan Yu
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095-1772, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Carol S. Aneshensel

  2. Division of Sociomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, Columbia University, 10032, New York, New York, USA

    Jo C. Phelan

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Yu, Y., Williams, D.R. (1999). Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health. In: Aneshensel, C.S., Phelan, J.C. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-36223-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-36223-1_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-32516-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-36223-6

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