Miguel Gonzalez

April 26, 2019

Sociology 257

Final Essay: Option B

In this day and age, explanations for differences in mental health across groups is

primarily focused on the biological perspective. Despite heavy funding in neurological research,

there has been a lack of data to link mental health disorders to a specific gene or region of the

brain. However, a sociological approach proves to hold promising theories that uses

environmental and social circumstances to explain these staggering variations for certain groups.

More specifically, the mental health of women, LGBTQ individuals, lower socioeconomic status

(SES) people, and the elderly can be expounded upon by these respective sociological theories:

role strain theory, minority stress theory, stress process model, and the cumulative inequality

theory. These theories use the societal pressures on women to manage both household and career

duties, a higher risk of stressors for LGBTQ individuals, a lack of resources to cope with

stressors for lower SES individuals, and the unequal accumulation of resources as the main

contributing factors for their altering mental health states.

Back when women were not expected to go into the workforce, they were labeled as the

one who manages all of the household duties. This was due to the cult of domesticity in the 19th

century industrialization era, which divided the workplace from the home (Fitts, 2001). Now that

there has been less discrimination and stigma, more women have taken it upon themselves to

develop a professional career. Unfortunately, the label of taking care of the household did not

vanish once these changes occurred. From either having to choose between these two roles or

deciding to take on both, the mental health of these women starts to become more fragile. This is
what the role strain theory attempts to explain. By having to balance multiple roles, conflict, and

overload, overall poor well-being will be the outcome (Goode, 1960). Usually, the consensus is

that an increase in the amount of activities that a person participates in results in better mental

health because they have more support groups and social interactions. This is true, but there is a

breaking-point. Being responsible for feeding the kids, cleaning the house, and improving your

professional career could be the cause for the higher rate of anxiety and depression in women

compared to men (Kessler, 2003). However, not every role a woman has can contribute equally

to their well-being. In one study, they researched whether there were certain roles that woman

had that would make them feel more overwhelmed compared to others (Erdwins, Buffardi,

Casper, & O’Brien, 2001). From 143 survey questionnaires, they concluded that the women’s

role as a parent was the strongest predictor on whether these women felt overloaded in their life.

This suggest that women still feel an immense pressure from society to fulfill their familial role,

which has caused them to value that aspect of their life most of all. Nonetheless, juggling all the

other responsibilities women have been expected to take on has had subsequent consequences on

their mental well-being.

Another discriminated group has been the LGBTQ community. People that label

themselves as part of this community are almost three times more likely to develop depression

and generalized anxiety disorder (“NAMI,” n.d.). Due to their sexual orientation, they face a

considerably higher rate of stigma and judgement from society compared to heterosexuals.

Therefore, individuals from the LGBTQ community are at risk for more stressors during the

course of their lifetime, which then could lead to mental disorders. The minority stress theory

uses these notions about stressors for the LGBTQ community to explain the higher rates of

mental health problems (Meyers, 2003). The model begins with minority status and identities for
LGBTQ people as the base. From there, there are three main form of stressors that the individual

can face: general, distal (external), and/or proximal (internal). General stressors could be major

life events, such as coming out to society. Additionally, for distal stressors, these can range from

discrimination at work to microaggressions. Proximal stressors could include trying to hide their

sexual orientation from society and trying to conform to societal norms. Additionally, LGBTQ

individuals are three times more likely to experience rape and two times more likely to

experience sexual dating violence, and bulling, which could increase their number of stressors

(Kann et al., 2016). All forms of these stressors lead to different mental health outcomes. These

results depend on the social support they receive and their coping strategies, but nonetheless

these stressors can have a paramount effect on the mental health of a LGBTQ-identifying person.

People with lower socioeconomic status (SES) is another group that is at higher risk for

poor mental health. According to a study by the CDC and NCHS, individuals that are less than

100% above the poverty line experience a weighted 8.7% rate of serious psychological distress.

In comparison, people that are more than 400% above the poverty line report a weighted 1.2%

rate of serious psychological distress (Schenker et al., 2008). Like the model above, the base for

the stress process model is stressors (Adler & Snibbe, 2003). Once a person experiences those

stressors, they enter an intermediary process, which can either be enhancing or depleting.

Examples of enhancing intermediary processes are positive social comparisons and success

experiences. On the other hand, depleting intermediary processes can be relative deprivation and

learned helplessness. Due to the fact that higher SES individuals are more likely to experience

enhancing intermediary process, the resources they receive change, such as more social capital,

higher self-esteem, and better social integration. These changes in resources lead to staggeringly

different mental health outcomes. Additionally, this is a continual loop because as a person with
higher SES experiences more enhancing intermediary processes, they attain better resources,

which can then further increase their amount of enhancing intermediary processes. This

eventually leads to a gap between the resources that lower SES individuals have compared to

higher SES individuals.

Older people in society have also been studied to show higher rates of mental health

disorders. It is estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that 15% of adults over 60

years old suffer from a mental disorder (“Mental health of older adults,” n.d.). The cumulative

inequality theory explains this rate of mental health problems by a combination of inherited

characteristics and the accumulation of risk and resource activation (Dannefer, 2003). Inherited

characteristics include sex, racial/ethnic heritage, and cohort number. Based on the inherited

characteristics, there are different risk accumulations and resource activations. Risk activation

could include discrimination based on the inherited traits listed above. Because of the risk, there

are a different amount of resources that a person can attain in their lifetime. Compared to another

person that did not experience as much risk, they could have accumulated a higher amount of

resources. These accumulations then affect the life chances and longevity of the person. Once a

person reaches old age, the accumulated risk and lack of resource activation could result in

mental health problems in older individuals. It could make them feel inadequate and as if they

did not do anything meaningful in their life because of the discrimination or risk they

accumulated. Not only do those accumulations determine the outcome of an individual but also

their kids. This is another example of a cyclic model for the predictor of mental health outcomes

because of the fact that the previous generation plays a factor in the resource activation of the

next.
 Sociological theories have often been overlooked as an explanation for the rise in mental

health disorders for certain societal groups. For women, there has been a change for them to go

into the workforce while also carrying a historical label of managing household duties. The role

strain theory uses these notions about the multiple roles that women have to switch between to

explain their higher rates of anxiety and depression. It has also been reported that the LBGTQ

community has higher rates of depression and anxiety. However, the minority stress theory uses

the fact that individuals that identify as LGBTQ experience more stressors during the course of

their life than heterosexuals. Depending on their coping strategies, these stressors can lead to

poor mental health outcomes. Lower SES people is another group that has a higher rate of

serious psychological distress. Due to a greater probability for higher SES people to experience

more positive social comparisons and success experiences (enhancing intermediary processes),

they are more likely to gain more resources like social capital and positive self-esteem compared

to lower SES people. These resources can therefore affect the care and type of mental health

disorders a person can face. Lastly, older individuals accumulate risk factors and resource

activation during the course of their lifetime based on their inherited traits. The cumulative

inequality theory states that the amount of resources older individuals attain can determine their

mental state, such as self-fulfillment in their life, and therefore whether they experience a mental

disorder, such as depression. Mental health problems for certain groups can be explained by

sociological theories, and thus more emphasis should be placed on using these theories for the

future of mental health research.

References:

Adler, N. E., & Snibbe, A. C. (2003). The Role of Psychosocial Processes in Explaining the

Gradient Between Socioeconomic Status and Health. Current Directions in

Psychological Science, 12(4), 119–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.01245

Dannefer, D. (2003). Cumulative Advantage/Disadvantage and the Life Course: Cross-

Fertilizing Age and Social Science Theory. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 58(6),

S327–S337. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/58.6.S327

Erdwins, C. J., Buffardi, L. C., Casper, W. J., & O’Brien, A. S. (2001). The Relationship of

Women’s Role Strain to Social Support, Role Satisfaction, and Self-Efficacy*. Family

Relations, 50(3), 230–238. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2001.00230.x

Fitts, R. (2001). The rhetoric of reform: The five points missions and the cult of domesticity.

Historical Archaeology, 35(3), 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03374397

Goode, W. (1960). A Theory of Role Strain. American Sociological Review, 25(4), 483-496.

Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2092933

Kann, L., Olsen, E. O., McManus, T., Harris, W. A., Shanklin, S. L., Flint, K. H., … Zaza, S.

(2016). Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts, and Health-Related Behaviors Among

Students in Grades 9–12 — United States and Selected Sites, 2015. MMWR. Surveillance

Summaries, 65(9), 1–202. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6509a1

Kessler, R. C. (2003). Epidemiology of women and depression. Women and Depression, 74(1),

5–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0327(02)00426-3

Meyer IH. 2003. Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual

populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychol. Bull. 129:674–97

Mental health of older adults. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-

sheets/detail/mental-health-of-older-adults

NAMI. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nami.org/find-support/lgbtq

Schenker, N., E. Raghunathan, T., Chiu, P.-L., M. Makuc, D., Zhang, G., & J. Cohen, A. (2008).

Multiple Imputation of Family Income and Personal Earnings in the National Health

Interview Survey.