Low Ses Leads to Poor Health

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It is claimed that Low Socio-economic status leads to poor health. Socio economic status (SES) is a total measure of an individual or family’s economic and social position in relation to others based on income, education and occupation. There are three levels of SES these include high SES, middle SES and low SES to describe which area a family or individual may fall into. Low income and low SES have shown to be strong predictor on a range of physical and mental health problems. Ranging from respiratory viruses, heart disease to mental disorders like depression and schizophrenia. These maybe due to environmental conditions at work or in the case of mental illness maybe the entire cause of person’s social predicament in the first place. Income refers to wages, salaries and rents any flow of earnings received. It can also come in form of unemployment, pensions and social security. Income is commonly used as SES because it is relatively easy to figure out for most people. Low income families focus on meeting immediate needs and do not accumulate wealth that could be passed onto future generations. Families with higher incomes can accumulate wealth and focus on immediate needs while being able to enjoy luxuries and weather crisis. Education plays a major role in income. Median earnings increase with each level of education. Higher levels of education are associated with better economic and psychological outcomes. Education plays a major role in skill sets for acquiring jobs, as well as specific qualities that stratify people with higher SES from lower SES. Occupation is a component of SES it encompasses both income and educational attainment. Occupational status reflects educational attainment required to obtain the job and income levels that vary with different jobs and within ranks of occupations. Occupational status measures social position by describing job

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