Socioeconomic status and mental illness: tests of the social causation and selection hypotheses.
This study tests several hypotheses about the underlying causal structure of the inverse correlation between socioeconomic status (SES) and mental illness. It does this through the analysis of a longitudinal statewide database on acute psychiatric hospitalization in Massachusetts for the fiscal years 1994-2000 as well as supplemental census data. The modeling strategy used techniques of structural equation modeling and found that SES impacted directly on rates of mental illness as well as indirectly through the impact of economic hardship on low and middle income groups.
Hudson
Christopher G
CG
School of Social Work, Salem State College, Salem, MA 01945, USA. cghudson@comcast.net
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts / Q000453:epidemiology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors