Social Class Impact on Health Issues

The Impact of Social Class on health outcomes in Australia
Within Australia, social inequalities have long existed and play a fundamental role in the differences in access to healthcare services and the resulting adverse health outcomes. Through the disparity of social class we can also see its impact psychologically and its effect on mental health issues and suicide rates within the lower classes. Furthermore, the families ability to provide nutritional meals, a healthy lifestyle, adequate living arrangements and a good education is also said to severely decrease when from a lower socio-economic background. Through ten articles, we will explore these findings and in turn reveal how social class has an impact on health outcomes within Australia, and in turn how its impacts are clear from birth and continue throughout the entire life cycle.
The global recession that occurred in 2008 is still significantly impacting the Australian financial system, generated by the financial crisis. Research has shown a radical change in unemployment, with statistics showing the rise of redundancy from 4.3% in September 2008 to 5.8% in July 2009 (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2009). These unemployed people are becoming part of the low social status group in society, causing disadvantageous effects on their mental and physical health. Studies have found that for some people, ending up without a job is associated with a higher risk of mental illness, and suicide. Social status is having these effects on Australians. Although economic factors have a large influence on health outcomes, we can see that the health inequalities stem from more than just this.
It has been found that a trend in obesity and socioeconomic (SES) status among both primary and secondary school children suggests an influence of social class indicators upon their weight status. A survey that commenced in 2006 among Australian schoolchildren revealed that those of lower SES have a consistently greater...