Stress exposure as a mechanism of the impact of socio-economic status on health quality

Abstract

The subject of this paper is stress exposure as one of the mechanisms through which the socioeconomic status may affect the health. First of all, the nature of the relationship between the socioeconomic status and the health quality, as well as possible mechanisms of relationship between them in general are presented. Then, an overview of the relationship between socioeconomic status and stress exposure is provided, as well as previous research results in this field. Finally, mechanisms by which stress exposure may affect health quality are presented. The largest number of studies indicates a positive correlation between socioeconomic position and health quality and a negative correlation between status and stress exposure, as well as health quality and stress exposure. The results regarding the relationship between socioeconomic status and stress exposure are in this respect the least consistent, mostly due to differences in the conceptualizations and operationalizations, poor representativeness of samples, and other methodological issues, as well as the characteristics of the examined populations themselves. Further, behaviors relevant to health quality, such as diet or physical activity, are to a great extent related to socioeconomic status and stress exposure. Whatever the mechanisms by which the inter- action between these variables is explained may be, the socioeconomic status is probably the key for prevention and overcoming stressful situations, and thus, for health in general.

U radu se razmatra izloženost stresu kao jednom od mehanizama putem kojeg socioekonomski položaj može uticati na kvalitet zdravlja. Pre svega, predstavljena je priroda povezanosti između socioekonomskog položaja i kvaliteta zdravlja, kao i mogući mehanizmi njihove povezanosti uopšte. Prema hipotezama diferencijalne izloženosti i diferencijalne ranjivosti, apsolutni socioekonomski položaj najbitnija je determinanta kvaliteta zdravlja. Osim toga, u literaturi je prisutno i stanovište o značaju relativne pozicije unutar društvene hijerarhije kao bitne determinante izloženosti stresu, ali i kvaliteta zdravlja uopšte. U tom smislu, predstavljen je pojam statusne anksioznosti. Zatim, pružen je osvrt na povezanost između socioekonomskog položaja i izloženosti stresu, kao i rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja u toj oblasti. Konačno, predstavljeni su mehanizmi putem kojih izloženost stresu može uticati na kvalitet zdravlja.