This is a review of my paper on mental health and social stratification in America.

1. By Christopher Ruper

2. Social stratification will increase mental
health disorders in America.
 What is social stratification?
“Every society is stratified into unequal classes, races,
ethnicities, and genders. Structured inequality influences the
distribution of wealth, occupational prestige, and power,”
(Argosy University, 2011).
Social stratification can prevent people from having true
equality from one another. “Several factors including
relationships of gender, household type, income, occupation and
race/ethnicity as part of the social structure identification,”
(Rose, 2010).

3. Education
 Lack of educational opportunities can lead to social
stratification and vice versa.
 “Sociologists have consistently demonstrated that a
rather strong association exists between an
individual's social class origin and their social class
destination, even after controlling for educational
attainment,” (Jackson, 2009).

4. Education cont.
 Education has become a larger part in determining
one’s social standing. It creates better opportunities for
people and education typically produces more income.
 However, college degree attainment is not spread
equally across America. “An unresolved question is
whether this pattern is primarily explained by
differences in priorities and preferences across social
strata or whether the widely recognized flaws of the
education system itself are actively hindering an
otherwise more egalitarian outcome,” (Reisel, 2010).

5. Employment
 Education can lead to better job opportunities in America
 Lacking an education can lead to poor job
placement/opportunities.
 Poor job placement/opportunities can to jobs that are
unsafe. “It is the poor who are exposed to dangerous
environments, who (if employed) often have stressful,
unrewarding and depersonalizing work, who lack the
necessities and amenities of life and who, because they are
not part of the mainstream of society, are isolated from
information and support,” (Murali and Oyebode, 2011).

6. Poverty the vicious cycle
 It is common that more people are at the bottom of the
social standing in America. Few people control most of
the wealth in America.
 Which leaves some to fend and struggle by themselves.
 Often times poverty extends to future generations.
 “Those who live in deprived communities, where
there is under-investment in the social and physical
infrastructure, experience poor health, resulting in
higher mortality for those of lower socio-economic
class,” (Murali and Oyebode, 2011).

7. Poverty the vicious cycle cont.
 Along with physical health, mental health is a great concern for
children. Kataoka and associates did a study for 12 months to find the
amount of mental health care being given to children.
 “In a 12-month period, 2%–3% of children 3–5 years old and 6%–9%
of children and adolescents 6–17 years old used mental health
services. Of children and adolescents 6–17 years old who were
defined as needing mental health services, nearly 80% did not
receive mental health care,” (Kataoka and Associates, 2002).
 It was also found that the unmet needs of children were higher in
minorities when compared to Caucasian children. Social
stratification leaves minority children particularly vulnerable to
mental health concerns.

8. Birth defects
 Birth defects can cause a wide range of mental health
disorders.
 In regards to poverty, children have a much higher rate of
birth defects in lower income families than in higher
income families.
 Learning disabilities can cause children to have health and
educational disadvantages; especially when left untreated.
 Even when being treated one study found that children
had, “1.5 times more doctor visits, 3.5 times more hospital-
days, twice the number of school-days lost, and a 2.5-fold
increase in the likelihood of repeating a grade in school
compared with children without these conditions,” (Boyle,
Decoufle, and Yeargin-Allsopp, 1994).

9. Birth defects cont.
 Mental health disorders, treated or not, can have an
effect on the education that the children are suppose
to receive because of their growth/development,
emotional, and behavioral problems.
 These can cause a higher rate of lower educational
opportunities.
 Lower educational opportunities can lead to lower
income and poverty for children when they grow into
adulthood; the cycle continues.

10. Health Care
 The mental health community has been using more
medications to treat patients every year.
 Minorities and lower income families still remain behind in
medical coverage.
 People in low income families do not have the same
advantages to health care as higher income families. This
includes mental health care.
 “Despite informal exemptions, out-of-pocket payments for
health care are exacting a high toll on household welfare
with households being forced to sell assets or go into debt
to meet the costs of care,” (Falkingham, 2004).

11. Resolution
 Social stratification in America produces poverty and mental
health disorders.
 Whether a disorder is created, from birth or through living in
poverty environments, people at the bottom suffer.
 Poverty and mental health disorders are a nationwide problem in
America.
 It is the responsibility of America’s leader to provide aid and not
“band aids” to help the people who are suffering.
 More research needs to be done so this task can be
accomplished; especially in: “...food stamps, managed care,
disability, aging, the change from a budget deficit to a budget
surplus, the latest figures on poverty, and the latest information
on job training and employment,” (Dinitto, 2011).

12. References
 Argosy University (2011). Advanced General Psychology. Argosy
University. Retrieved on November 12, 2011 from
www.myeclassonline.com
 Argosy University (2011). Sociological Perspective class ethnicity and
gender. Argosy University. Retrieved on November 12, 2011 from
www.myeclassonline.com
 Bolye, C., Decoufle, M., Yeargin-Allsopp, M. (1994). Prevalence and
Health Impact of Developmental Disabilities in US Children. American
Academy of Pediatrics, 93(3), 399-403.
 Dinitto, D. (2011). Social Welfare 5th Ed. Lavoisier S.A.S. Retrieved from
http://www.lavoisier.fr/livre/notice.asp?id=O3OWA3A6KAKOWF
 Falkingham, J. (2003). Poverty, out-of-pocket payments and access to
health care. Social Science and Medicine, 58(2), 247-258. Doi:
10.1016/s0277-9536(03)00008.x

13. References cont.
 Jackson, M. (2009). Disadvantaged through discrimination? The role of
employers in social stratification. British Journal Of Sociology, 60(4),
669-692. doi:10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01270.x
 Kataoka, S. and Associates (2002). Unmet Need for Mental Health Care
Among U.S. Children: Variation by Ethnicity and Insurance Status. The
American Journal of Psychiatry. 159(9). Doi:159:1548-1555
 Murali, V. and Oyebode, F. (2011). Poverty, social inequality, and mental
health. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment. Retrieved from
http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/10/3/216.full
 Reisel, L. (2010). Higher education and welfare state regimes: A
comparative study of social stratification and educational outcomes in
the united states and norway. Sociology). ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses, Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/763428151?accountid=34899
 Rose, S. J. (2010). Social Stratification in the United States. Environment
& Planning A, 42(8), 1767-1768. doi:10.1068/a42274