Explaining the link between low socioeconomic status and psychopathology: testing two mechanisms of the social causation hypothesis.
Two mechanisms of the hypothesized social causation of psychopathology--differential incidence and cumulative prevalence--were tested over 9 years in a nationally representative sample of 1,075 children and youths, ages 8-17 at Time 1 (1986). Analyses using parental responses on behavior checklists at 4 time points showed significant increases in clinical elevations for those of the lowest socioeconomic status (SES) on anxious/depressed, somatic complaints, thought problems, delinquent, and aggressive syndromes. This SES-linked differential incidence supports the social causation hypothesis that factors associated with SES contribute to variations in levels of psychological problems. SES-linked differential cumulative prevalence was found for withdrawn and somatic complaints; this finding indicates that low-SES cases do not improve as much as do middle- and high-SES cases, which results in greater accumulation of low-SES cases.
Wadsworth
Martha E
ME
Department of Psychology, University of Denver, CO 80208, USA. mwadswor@du.edu
Achenbach
Thomas M
TM
D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors