How Socioeconomic Status Impacts on Health free essay sample

Discuss How Socioeconomic Status Impacts on Health Outcomes in Contemporary Australia: In contemporary Australia there are many social classes which group people in regards to their financial, legal and family situations. The effect that socioeconomic status has on the health outcomes of an Australian person today’s society is a great one. Persons belonging to low or the lowest socioeconomic status groups have more disadvantaged health outcomes compared to persons belonging to high socioeconomic status groups (Govil, et al, 2009).There are many social factors that determine health and a large number of them are deprived in lower socioeconomic status groups. These social determinants would include housing, employment, education and income. It has been found that the greater the degree of socioeconomic status inequalities within a society, the steeper the gradient of health inequalities (Schrader, 2003). It is also important to consider the impacts of socioeconomic status in the context of sociological theories of stratification; such as symbolic interaction, functionalism and conflict theory. The sociological theories of stratification are defined by how different groups in society are viewed, valued or undervalued. Firstly, Symbolic Interactism is a concept by Calvin Cooley referred to as the Looking Glass Self’. We see ourselves in terms of how we are viewed in society. If society views us unworthy or substandard we may come to perceive ourselves that way and behave accordingly. The media largely perpetuates certain attitudes about socioeconomic groups and hence suggests particular behaviour within those socioeconomic groups.This can be either positive or negative and significantly influences health outcomes of specific groups. Conflict theory can be defined by the conflict that occurs between the higher socioeconomic and lower socioeconomic classes. Individuals belonging to higher socioeconomic quartiles are able to access private health care and hence will have a better health outcome compared to someone belonging to a lower socioeconomic quartile (Hall, Hendrie, Sheiner, 2004). This is the unfortunate reality of the conflict theory.Functionalism is a theory which describes society as a structure with integral parts. It sees society as needing to work together to achieve equilibruim. Disadvantaged socioeconomic groups are often rejected by society at large because if you do not function adequately in society or contribute greatly in anyway, you are thought to be harmful to the equilibrium and therefore less valuable. Due to certain groups being valued over others, there is a huge disparity in the allocation of health care access. The environmental surroundings and conditions of a person’s housing situation contribute largely towards there lifestyle. Where a person lives, and the surrounding environment, are important components of a person’s lifestyle. In addition it is assumed that their lifestyle is an indication of social class and income. Where a person lives is an attribute to that certain individual’s social class. A high percentage of low income households residing in particular neighbourhoods is usually indicative of neighbourhood disadvantages (Feldman, Warr, Tacticos, Kelaher, 2009).These disadvantages, such as pollution and poor health care services result in a higher amount of morbidity, mortality and hospitalisation than those in higher social classes. It has also been found that people who have poor living conditions are more likely to get diseases such as pneumonia and scabies (World Health Organization, 2008). Hertzman, Jiandhong, Mattes, McMurray and Stanley (2009) found that environmental factors have a significant effect on health in particular their work environments. People in the lower social classes often have jobs that expose them to more hazardous sites and materials, then that of higher social classes.It has also been stipulated that people with lower socioeconomic statuses will more likely have jobs that involve hard labour, shift work and poorer work choices; such as less or no sick pay, annual or maternity leave. As found by Govil et. al. (2009), less-educated individuals were more likely to be disadvantaged in terms of health. They were more likely to engage in unhealthy practices; such as smoking, inactivity, eating a high fat diet and being overweight, compared to higher socioeconomic quartiles. Furthermore, they also had a greater likelihood of suffering from depression.Most childhood injuries have no link to socioeconomic status however in the case burns, poisoning and traffic related accidents there is a direct correlation between lower socioeconomic quartiles and these injuries (Finch, Hayen, Poulos, Zwi, 2007). Through the education of parents and children to dangers and management of accidents these injuries can all be prevented. Education is a crucial determining factor in health and can be considered from another angle. Browing, Kendig and Techuva (1998) suggested that education affects the access to occupations and income, which more directly influences health outcomes.The income of a family household greatly affects the individual’s health. In a study conducted by Kozyrskyj et. al. (2010), it was found that children born in to households with a chronic low income were twice as more likely to have asthma at the age of 14 compared to those born in to households with increasing incomes or never low incomes. It was proposed that the reason for this was due to the high stress environment and prolonged endotoxin exposure consistent with chronically low income households.In addition, there are statistics that demonstrate the correlation between public or rural hospitals and a lower success rate in the recovery of women from breast cancer operations compared to private hospitals (Hall, Hendrie, Sheiner, 2004). This suggests that lower income earners will not have access to a better level of care and also a better convenience of care. Australia has a large gap between its different socioeconomic classes regarding health outcomes. The factors involved with determining health outcomes between classes are education, income, employment and housing.