[Social class, life satisfaction and health assessment. Results of a representative study of the German population].
The supposition that a higher risk of morbidity and mortality is connected with the belonging to a particular social class has been confirmed by numerous national and international researches. But still unsolved is the question of how objective social situations do lead to individual processes of disease. In order to solve this question in a representative assessment of the german population, data of 2948 individuals, referring to aspects of life-satisfaction, personality, subjective complaints and attitudes to current state of health, has been ascertained. In nearly all scales of the chosen instruments significant gradients connected to social class have been found. Persons belonging to a lower social class show a minor life satisfaction, significant differences in personality, higher subjective complaints and a poor state of health. This persons also seem to be convinced that they could do less to care for their health. This self-assessment indicates processes, that stand before the state of manifestation of disease. They can be seen as an expression of persons mental reflection of their social situation. Within the context of this analysis of social inequality and disease we argue to include psychological theories and stress theory in sociological theories. They achieve an important contribution to the clarification of the interface between social class, respectively life circumstances, experiences of distress, available resources of coping with the situation and the individual process of development of disease.
Laubach
W
W
Selbständige Abteilung für Medizinische Psychologie und Medizinische Soziologie, Universität Leipzig.
Schumacher
J
J
Mundt
A
A
Brähler
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors