MEDICAL RESPONSIBILITY AND DRUG ADDICTION

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-156
Author(s):  
Leon Eisenberg

The dismaying extent of addiction among young people, the complexity of its causation, and the grossly unsatisfactory results from current methods of management are all sharply posed in the accompanying review by Freedman and Wilson. This thoughtful condensation of the available literature may disappoint those looking for neat and simple formulations as to cause or cure. Easy slogans and hoary nostrums abound; they lack only facts to support them. The correlations between low socioeconomic status, membership in ethnic groups shut out from full participation in American society, and the prevalence of addictive practices point to social class factors as important determinants of the behavior patterns that eventuate in addiction; yet addiction is not universal among the disadvantaged and is being discovered to an increasing extent among privileged youth.

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1701-1709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malin Ericsson ◽  
Nancy L Pedersen ◽  
Anna L V Johansson ◽  
Stefan Fors ◽  
Anna K Dahl Aslan

Abstract Background Despite advances in life expectancy, low socioeconomic status is associated with a shorter lifespan. This study was conducted to investigate socioeconomic differences in mortality by comparing preventable with non-preventable causes of death in 39 506 participants from the Swedish Twin Registry born before 1935. Methods Childhood social class, own education, own social class and social mobility were used as separate indicators of socioeconomic status. These data were linked to the Swedish Cause of Death Register. Cause of death was categorized as preventable or non-preventable mortality according to indicators presented in the Avoidable Mortality in the European Union (AMIEHS) atlas. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we tested the association between the socioeconomic measures and all-cause mortality, preventable mortality and non-preventable mortality. Additional co-twin control analyses indicated whether the associations reflected genetic confounding. Results The social gradient for mortality was most prominent for the adult socioeconomic measures. There was a social gradient in both preventable mortality and non-preventable mortality, but with an indication of a moderately stronger effect in preventable causes of death. In analyses of social mobility, those who experienced life-time low socioeconomic status (SES) or downward social mobility had an increased mortality risk compared with those with life-time high SES and upward social mobility. Adjustments for genetic confounding did not change the observed associations for education, social class or social mobility and mortality. In the co-twin control analyses of reared-apart twins, the association between childhood social class and mortality weakened, indicating possible genetic influences on this association. Conclusions Our results indicate that there is an association between low adult socioeconomic status and increased mortality independent of genetic endowment. Thus, we do not find support for indirect social selection as the basis for mortality inequalities in Sweden


1977 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan S. Appelbaum ◽  
June M. Tuma

Comparability of IQs yielded by the Peabody and the revised Wechsler scale, the WISC-R, is important to interpret IQ estimates obtained from these two scales. In the present study, 40 normal 10-yr.-old children (20 male and 20 female, half of whom were from high and half from low socioeconomic status) were compared for performance on the Peabody, the WISC and the WISC-R. IQs obtained on Forms A and B of the Peabody correlate highly and, thus, the two Peabody forms are essentially parallel and equivalent forms. Concurrent validity coefficients ranging from .71 to .83 were obtained between the Peabody IQs and Verbal and Full Scale IQs of the WISC and the WISC-R. Much lower validity coefficients were obtained between the Peabody and Performance IQs of the WISC and the WISC-R. Large differences in IQ between children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those from high socioeconomic backgrounds were obtained on all four tests. The Peabody IQs were closer in magnitude to the WISC-R IQs than to the WISC in the low socioeconomic group. The results support administering the Peabody to children for obtaining valid IQ estimates. Interpretations of Peabody scores in relation to the WISC-R should be somewhat different from those of the Peabody and the WISC, however, in view of the effects of socioeconomic status (and therefore ability level) on estimates of IQ.


Author(s):  
Çiğdem Kağıtçıbaşı ◽  
Zeynep Cemalcılar

This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive perspective on human behavior by studying the role of the distal environment on developmental processes. Social class, or more specifically socioeconomic status, is an all-encompassing context that has great significance in engulfing human phenomena. This chapter first reviews extant psychological literature on the deleterious effects of low social class on development and presents three studies as cases in point, demonstrating the significant impact of the context and contextual change on behavior. Kağıtçıbaşı’s theory of family change proposes three models of family: family of interdependence, family of independence, and family of emotional interdependence. Parenting, however, directly reflects family characteristics. Thus family change theory has led to a theory of the autonomous-related self. The chapter also presents research illustrating the impact of the objective environment and in particular the detrimental effects of low socioeconomic status on various developmental, social, and academic outcomes of Turkish samples.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Dayle Herrmann ◽  
Jessica Bodford ◽  
Robert Adelman ◽  
Oliver Graudejus ◽  
Morris Okun ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 2042-2062
Author(s):  
Susana Mendive ◽  
Mayra Mascareño Lara ◽  
Daniela Aldoney ◽  
J. Carola Pérez ◽  
José P. Pezoa

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e043547
Author(s):  
Donald A Redelmeier ◽  
Kelvin Ng ◽  
Deva Thiruchelvam ◽  
Eldar Shafir

ObjectivesEconomic constraints are a common explanation of why patients with low socioeconomic status tend to experience less access to medical care. We tested whether the decreased care extends to medical assistance in dying in a healthcare system with no direct economic constraints.DesignPopulation-based case–control study of adults who died.SettingOntario, Canada, between 1 June 2016 and 1 June 2019.PatientsPatients receiving palliative care under universal insurance with no user fees.ExposurePatient’s socioeconomic status identified using standardised quintiles.Main outcome measureWhether the patient received medical assistance in dying.ResultsA total of 50 096 palliative care patients died, of whom 920 received medical assistance in dying (cases) and 49 176 did not receive medical assistance in dying (controls). Medical assistance in dying was less frequent for patients with low socioeconomic status (166 of 11 008=1.5%) than for patients with high socioeconomic status (227 of 9277=2.4%). This equalled a 39% decreased odds of receiving medical assistance in dying associated with low socioeconomic status (OR=0.61, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.75, p<0.001). The relative decrease was evident across diverse patient groups and after adjusting for age, sex, home location, malignancy diagnosis, healthcare utilisation and overall frailty. The findings also replicated in a subgroup analysis that matched patients on responsible physician, a sensitivity analysis based on a different socioeconomic measure of low-income status and a confirmation study using a randomised survey design.ConclusionsPatients with low socioeconomic status are less likely to receive medical assistance in dying under universal health insurance. An awareness of this imbalance may help in understanding patient decisions in less extreme clinical settings.


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