The association between social class and psychiatric disorder has been one of the central topics of socio-epidemiological research since its inception. With remarkable consistency, numerous investigations have demonstrated an inverse correlation between social class and prevalence rates for most forms of psychopathology. The debate on the interpreta tion of these findings - social causation versus social selection processes - continues to this day. Moreover, the question as to what the psychoso cial processes are through which social class and individual psychopa thology are mediated has remained mostly unanswered. The concept of social stress may well provide new insights in this regard. One should note, in particular, the considerable conceptual and methodological progress made in life event research. Recently, the first attempts have been made to link the two concepts of social class and social stress. These developments will be retraced in this book in the light of new investigations. Descriptive epidemiological studies on the relation between social class and psychiatric disorders form the point of depar ture. Explicit reference is made to two classical studies in psychiatric epidemiology: Faris and Dunham's Chicago study and the New Haven study by Hollingshead and Redlich. Following on from there, various approaches in analytical epidemiological research are presented which attempt to determine whether - or, more precisely, to what extent - social causation or social selection processes can be said to be responsible for the higher rates of psychiatric disorders in lower social strata.

From Social Class to Social Stress: New Developments in Psychiatric Epidemiology

Social Class and Psychiatric Disorders
Urban Ecology and Psychiatric Admission Rates: Results from a Study in the City of Hamburg
Social Class and Mental Disorders: Results from Upper Bavarian Studies
Social Causation versus Social Selection
The Issue of Social Class and Schizophrenia in the Netherlands
Socioeconomic Status and Schizophrenia: Noisome Occupational Characteristics as a Risk Factor
Social Class and Mental Disorder: The Stress/Selection Issue
Social Stress and Psychiatric Disorders
Social Factors in the Aetiology and Course of Psychiatric Disorder: A Report on Progress
Adversity and the Risk of Mental Illness: Preliminary Results of the Upper Bavarian Restudy
Life Events and Depressive Syndromes: Results of a Prospective Panel Study over 4 Years
Biography, Social Stress, and the Point Prevalence of Psychogenic Disorders
Chronic Difficulties and Life Events in the Long-Term Course of Affective and Anxiety Disorders: Results from the Munich Follow-Up Study
Does It Make Sense to Divide Depression into a Psychosocial and a Biological Type? Results from the Vienna Depression Study
Overview and Initial Results of a Risk Factor Study of Depression and Schizophrenia
Old People in Hospital: A Study of a Psychiatric High-Risk Group
Employment and Mental Health. Results from the Upper Bavarian Field Study
The Effect of Work and Work Related Stress Factors on the Course of Psychiatric Disorders
Social Class and Social Stress
The Epidemiology of Misfortune
The Distribution of Adverse Life Events and Impaired Mental Health in a Female Community Sample.