Essay on Determinants of Health: Age, Education,...

Section 2
Determinants of health
There are several social, psychological, and biological factors that determine the level of mental health of a person. For example, consistent socio-economic pressures are recognised as risks to mental health for individuals and communities. The clearest evidence is associated with indicators of poverty, including low levels of education.
Poor mental health is linked with rapid social change, stressful work conditions, gender discrimination, social exclusion, an unhealthy lifestyle, risks of violence, physical ill-health and human rights violations.
There are also specific psychological and personality factors that make people vulnerable to mental disorders. Lastly, there are some biological causes of mental disorders including genetic factors which contribute to imbalances in chemicals in the brain.
Individual Factors - Age and gender
Age has a major role of the mental health of an individual. It is said that half of all mental health disorders show first signs before a person turns 14 years old, and three quarters of mental health disorders begin before the age of 24. (http://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/myths-facts/)
As a teen growing up through high school, there is a lot of pressure, from family, teachers and other peer student, for example you always have this fear of failing something, letting your parent down if you don’t do well which causes unnecessary stress and fear, the teachers are one of the major contributors of high stress levels and depression, as when homework starts to pile on so does the stress levels, as you are expected to complete it and if you don’t you have the fear of you parents/careers finding out will add on even more stress, leading to anxiety. In schools there will always be discrimination, isolation and overall bullying, especially as puberty hits as the men have high testosterone and the women get more mood swings due to their menstrual cycle. If a shy young person doesn’t have good social and emotional skills he is less likely be able to make friends and is consequently open to experience social isolation. If the young person is of different ethnicity or has a mental illness/disability, they have a higher chance of being discriminated about being different rather than what is seen to be ‘normal’. Statistics show Australian high school students have found one in three girls and a quarter of boys are depressed. The study, of almost 4500 year 7 to 12 students, also revealed 34 per cent of girls and 30 per cent of boys felt constantly under strain and unable to overcome difficulties.

Socio economic factors - Income and education
Income effects mental health severely, a low income can negatively impact housing standards or reduce access to medical services; low educational attainment can affect the ability to obtain information on health services and health risk prevention; and the lack of a sense of financial security or control over one's life may create chronic stress which can negatively impact on physical as well as mental wellbeing. (http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features30Mar+2010)
Rich people don’t really have to worry about bills and fees, as they can afford it, they can live wealthy lifestyles, for example, they can eat good quality healthy food, go eat at expensive restaurants, have time to do fitness and leisurely activities, buy expensive name brand clothes etc. Rich people usually are mentally healthy because of these reasons. Poor people don’t have the luxury of spending money unnecessarily and most likely have to budget their lifestyle. Their appearances are also different as they aren’t able to afford pay the high price for name brand items.
Generally poorer people tend to use government funded programs such as medicare, health care cards, public services (which is a disadvantage due to the extensive waiting list) compared to the people who are well off that use private health funds which is an advantage due to the

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