social+determinants+and+health

7/30/2019 Social+Determinants+and+Health

1/6

Running head: SOCIAL DETERMINANTS AND HEALTH 1

Impact of the Social Determinants on Health: A Reaction Paper

Assignment 2

SSCI412: Social Sciences & Medicine

Janeel Cowan

St Georges University

March 10th, 2013


2/6

SOCIAL DETERMINANTS AND HEALTH

The Impact of the Social Determinants on Health

Imagine someone who has grown up in the slumps of South Asia, currently

unemployed and struggling to provide food for them and their family. Then compare this

person to someone who is wealthy, who has grown up in the glamorous Hollywood hills and

has no trouble accessing the best health care needed. Wouldn't these two persons on opposite

ends of the globe have differing health statuses?

Health could be influenced by many factors ranging from social, economic to even

environmental; just to name a few. This is because according to the World Health

Organization health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not

merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This knowledge has been researched for many

years so much so that it is now termed by the sociologists as the health determinants because

(Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003).

The social determinants of health include family background, living and working

conditions and a persons age. These all have a powerful impact on an individuals health. As

such, this paper seeks to explain how these factors influence health so that this knowledge

could be used to improve the provision of health care.

Firstly, family plays an integral role in influencing the lifestyle and health status of its

individual members (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003; Ehrenberg & Ault, 2005). With family

being the primary institution of socialization, it is at this stage of early development that

children learn cultural values, attitudes, skills, behaviours and habits that would continue with

them into adulthood. Thus, the environment in which a child is raised has the ability to

profoundly impact a persons health status as it can promote a healthy lifestyle and decrease

the risk of illness and disease (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003, p. 14).

During socialization, parents are the primary decision makers with regards to health

choices. Parents influence a childs ability to access health care, eating and exercise habits,

2


3/6


social and emotional support as well as exposure to substance use or abuse, both before and

after birth. These decisions are made based on the familys socioeconomic status, class,

education levels and their health and health behavior (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003, p. 14). As

such, a child raised by a single mother who is an alcoholic, a smoker and obese has a greater

likelihood of acquiring these bad health habits in his/her adult life.

Moreover, different persons have different living environments which help to

determine health status. According to Wilkinson & Marmot (2003) and Ehrenberg & Ault

(2005), living in an impoverished home or community increases a persons vulnerability to

certain diseases. The living conditions of impoverished families encompasses substandard

housing and sanitation, lack of adequate education, low awareness of the need for health care,

financial difficulties in accessing health care and inadequate resources by which to sustain

good health. As a result, persons stricken with poverty are inevitably pre-disposed to

alcoholism, drug abuse, chronic diseases and even communicable disease epidemics

(Ehrenberg & Ault, 2005).

Because an adequate food supply and balanced diet are important in sustaining health

and well being, a shortage of food can lead to malnutrition and different deficiency diseases.

The poor in society usually have difficulties healthy, nutritious and affordable food and so are

forced to survive on the bear minimum and use cheaper processed foods lacking all the

nutrients required (Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003, p. 26). As such, persons living in the

impoverished and unsanitary rural areas of South Africa are more likely to be malnourished

and contract communicable diseases such as malaria than some living in the middle class

suburbs of America.

In addition to family background and living condition, the work environment is

important in determining a persons medical state. According to Cockerham & Glasser,

(2001), living conditions help to shape a persons work environment and so persons with a

3


4/6


5/6


conditions and a persons age have a powerful impact on individual health. This is because

the understanding of these social determinants of health is very important especially in the

promotion of better health and in the provision of health care.

5


6/6


References

Cockerham, W.C., & Glasser, M. (2001).Readings in Medical Sociology (2nd ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Ehrenberg, J. P., & Ault, S. K. (2005). Neglected diseases of neglected populations: Thinking

to reshape the determinants of health in Latin America and the Caribbean. BMC

Public Health, 5, 119. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-5-119. Retrieved from

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/5/119

Wilkinson, C., & Marmot, M. (2003). Social determinants of health: the solid facts (2nd ed.).

Denmark, Europe: World Health Organization.

6

social+determinants+and+health

Documents