Social Gradient

The social gradient in health is a term used to describe the phenomenon whereby people who are less advantaged in terms of socioeconomic position have worse health (and shorter lives) than those who are more advantaged. A classic example of research on this subject is the Whitehall study of British civil servants. Analysis of these data show a steep inverse association between social class and health and mortality from a wide range of diseases. Self‐perceived health status and symptoms were also worse in subjects in lower status jobs. There were clear employment grade differences in health‐risk behaviors, in possible effects of early life environment, in social circumstances at work, and in social supports. It is clear that people in the highest social strata live longer and have better health than those in the strata just below them who, in turn, live longer than those just below them and so on in a downward gradient until the bottom of the social ladder is reached.