Poverty can bring many psychological stressors
Poverty can bring many physical stressors, but it can also bring a disproportionate amounts of psychological stressors as well. Lack of control (An organism will feel less stressed if they believe they have control over a situation), lack of predictability (A lack of predictability as to when a stressor will occur has been shown to increase chronic stress): numbing work on an assembly line, an occupational career spent taking orders or going from one temporary stint to the next. The first one laid off when economic times are bad—and studies show that the deleterious effects of unemployment on health begin not at the time the person is laid off, but when the mere threat of it first occurs. Wondering if the money will stretch to the end of the month. Wondering if the rickety car will get you to tomorrow’s job interview on time. How’s this for an implication of lack of control: one study of the working poor showed that they were less likely to comply with their doctors’ orders to take antihypertensive diuretics (drugs that lower blood pressure by making you urinate) because they weren’t allowed to go to the bathroom at work as often as they needed to when taking the drugs.
References
- Sapolsky, Robert. (2004). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers Chapter 17. The View from the Bottom (p. 510). New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychology / Economics Status:☀️