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The substantial artefact explanation: your age and profession states whether you are upper, middle, working or lower class
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Natural or social expectations: low social class and low wages, poverty and poor housing do not cause illness – it is infact the other way around. A absenteeism and lack of energy why they are placed in deprived circumstances
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Cultural or behavioural explanations: focuses on behaviour and lifestyle choices of people in lower classed. Poor diet and exercise, alcohol and smoking seemed to be linked to working class eople. This is also linked to illnesses such as cancer, bronchitis, and diabetes and heart disease. Difficult circumstances lead to this lifestyle choice. Not the other way around.
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Material or structural explanations: Low income, poor diet, poor housing, poor environments and dangerous and insecure employment are more common in working class families. Research in these areas conclude that the major factors that contribute to health and illness are social factors
Gender
Life expectancy for women is higher than the life expectancy for men (around 5 years in difference). Infant mortality rates are higher for girls than boys. Studies show that women have higher levels of illness compared to men.
Men tend to drink and smoke more than women. This can be linked to them having a lower life expectancy. Also men compete in more dangerous sports and activities and are therefore more at risk of suffering from unhealed injuries in later life.
There are also economic inequalities; men still earn more than women. The equal pay act made it illegal to pay women less than men for doing the same job. Women are less likely to have the same pensions due to family responsibilities. There is a clear link between poverty and poor health, and therefore women are more at risk of health issues that they can not afford to deal with.
Women still feel that they have responsibilities in the house such as carrying out daily household chores. Depression can be linked to illness. Women carry more stress related illnesses than men. This is because women have more life stresses such as children, appearance, image, paranoia and work. Women have so many different issues to deal with, it causes them stress.
Ethnicity
There is evidence that there is a higher incidence of rickets in children form Asian families due to a deficiency in vitamin D in their diet.
Most ethnic minority groups have a shorter life expectancy and have higher infant mortality rates. This could be linked to the social economic situations faced by any migrant workers.
Language and cultural barriers can limit the use of health services. For example Asian women are not going to feel comfortable going to see male doctors. Translation is another language complication. This is because it is not easy to capture the same meaning when translating between two completely different languages.
Racism is and can become very stressful and can result in conflict between people and the person who is being victimised, have problems to deal with such as emotional stress. Workers in health centres understand religious and cultural beliefs but there is a chance that some may not meet the needs of the patient.
In 2001 census revealed that 342,032 people aged 65+ have over 50 hours unpaid heath care every week. 60% of people aged 65-74 and 64% of people over 75 seem to have a long-standing illness. 24% of people over the age of 75 attended hospital for different reasons
There are regional variations in patterns if health and illness. Mortality rates and mobility rates are different in other areas of the country in the UK. For example within England, lung cancer is above average in North West, Northern, and Yorkshire Regions and below average in the South Western, Southern and Eastern Regions. This shows that mortality rates and mobility rates are higher in different areas in the country.
