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  • Essay / Overview of the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and health

    Socio-economic status, SES for short, is the social position one obtains within a societal hierarchy; it would also be described as the economic and sociological construction of the individual experience of work. It is also about their inherited economic and social position. All of this is based on occupation, education and income. Blaxter points out that the focus seems to be more on the role played by single responsibility. An example would be how one can treat their body poorly by smoking and drinking alcohol rather than exercising and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay There are several definitions of health. For example, health is the condition of being free from disease or physical harm; or, the state of one's mental or physical being. Later in this assignment, there will be a discussion of what can be learned from research on health across the lifespan. Referring to the nature of the correlation between socio-economic status and health; also the apparent causes of this relationship. There will also be the exploration of types of theories, concepts and methods in the field of psychology and the consequences of conflicting circumstances on well-being and health. This would include studies by Case et al (2005), Cohen (2004), Bartley (2017) and a few others. The nature of the relationship between socioeconomic status and health could be drawn from Case et al (2005) and their research associated with the National Child Development Study of 1958. This study included children born in England during the week of March 3, 1958. These children were followed at the ages of seven, eleven, sixteen, twenty-three, thirty-three and forty-two years old. The case identified low birth weight and a number of chronic health conditions in children aged seven. He then predicted academic success when the children were sixteen years old. The numerical figure for chronic health problems at ages seven and sixteen then allowed Case to predict the adult occupational class at ages thirty-three and forty-two. Additionally, Case examined the consequences of parental socioeconomic status on child and adult health; specifically, the education and occupation of the mother and father at the time of their child's birth; Case then predicted this child's adult health at age forty-two. Similarly, Cohen et al (2004) examined how an individual is particularly vulnerable to the common cold. In his study, Cohen injected a cold virus nasally into 334 adult participants. He then asked these participants to remember parental ownership from their childhood; the effect being independent of: BMI, own education, access to private property and parental education of the participants. Its results showed that 61 participants (45%) who had a cold among those infected had parents who had owned a home for 0 to 6 years. 59 participants (37%) who had a cold among those infected had parents who had owned a house for 7 to 17 years and finally 31% of participants (78) who had a cold among those infected had parents who had owned a house of a house for 18 years. Evidence is appended for both: the effects of health on socioeconomic status and the effect of socioeconomic status on health. However, it is difficult to distinguish which is the cause and which is the effect. Weightman et al (2012) in the United Kingdom studied employment class and its impact on low birth weight.