{"id":46209,"date":"2021-08-19T19:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T23:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=46209"},"modified":"2021-08-25T12:30:42","modified_gmt":"2021-08-25T16:30:42","slug":"socioeconomic-status-and-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/socioeconomic-status-and-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Socioeconomic Status and Depression Are Linked"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the relationship between socioeconomic status and depression? Why are highly unequal societies more likely to have higher rates of depression?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Socioeconomic status and depression are intertwined because an individual with a low or threatened social status is more likely to feel depressed. This problem is particularly acute in highly unequal societies. Those at the lower rung of the ladder are depressed because of their status, while high-status people feel depressed from the thought of falling down the ladder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the relationship between socioeconomic status and depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Socioeconomic Status and Depression<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not all<\/em> forms of in-person connections are helpful\u2014if your social status is low or threatened, interaction with others can actually make depression worse.<\/strong> Surprisingly, the first researchers to study this relationship between socioeconomic status and depression weren\u2019t psychologists or sociologists\u2014they were primatologists studying the social hierarchies of baboons in Kenya. Monkeys and apes are humankind\u2019s closest evolutionary cousins, and like us, they live in social communities. Studying those groups gives researchers a chance to see how the relationship between socioeconomic status and depression plays out in a much more concentrated way than they can when studying human communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depression as a Submission Response<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For baboons in particular, there is a strict hierarchy within the group. Female baboons inherit their place in the hierarchy from their mothers, but male baboons are constantly competing with each other for the top spots. Even the alpha male baboon\u2019s position can be challenged by younger, stronger males. The competition is brutal\u2014researchers can often identify low-status males instantly because they\u2019re covered in so many bite marks from higher-status males asserting their dominance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does this have to do with human depression? The key is the way those low-status males cope with the constant abuse from high-status baboons. To avoid being ripped apart, low-status baboons make themselves as non-threatening as possible by lowering themselves physically. They bow their heads and keep their bodies low to the ground whenever other apes are around as a way of communicating, \u201cYou win. Please don\u2019t hurt me. I\u2019m not a threat.\u201d Their posture, behavior, and energy levels mimic those of a severely depressed human. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The similarity between stressed baboons and depressed humans goes even further\u2014both have elevated levels of the stress hormone<\/a> cortisol in their blood, and both show the same changes in the brain, pituitary gland, and adrenal gland compared to their unstressed counterparts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of these similarities, some scientists think that human depression is a submission response from deep in our evolutionary history.<\/strong> On a primal level, your brain can\u2019t tell the difference between being savagely attacked by a competitive baboon and working a thankless job, being compared to unrealistic body ideals, or struggling financially\u2014all of which make you feel \u201cnot good enough,\u201d or like your status is low relative to people who are successful, thin, or rich. As a result, your brain reacts in the same way it would if you were being attacked. Whatever the cause, depression is the body\u2019s way of saying, \u201cYou win. I give up. Just stop the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low or Threatened Social Status Triggers Depression<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This relationship between socioeconomic status and depression shows up in different situations depending on a baboon\u2019s place in the social hierarchy<\/a>: Low-status baboons are stressed almost constantly, and high-status baboons are acutely stressed when their status is threatened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally, the relationship between socioeconomic status and depression works the same way in humans: When people are at the bottom of their social hierarchy, they\u2019re more likely to be depressed. That makes intuitive sense\u2014when life is harder, there\u2019s more to be depressed about\u2014but being at the top of the hierarchy can also trigger depression for humans if that status is threatened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, even having a social hierarchy at all can constitute a status threat because everyone feels the stress of needing to avoid falling to a lower rung of the social ladder. Research shows that highly unequal societies (with a large gap between those at the bottom and those at the top) have higher rates of depression for <\/strong>everyone<\/em><\/strong>, regardless of their spot in the hierarchy,<\/strong> than countries with more equal social structures. This is part of why countries like the United States (with the most unequal distribution of wealth of any advanced economy) have higher rates of all <\/em>mental illnesses, including depression, than countries with more social equality (like Norway). <\/p>\n\n\n\n