Socioeconomic Position and Major Mental Disorders

Psychiatric epidemiologists were among the first to use the term “social epidemiology” (1), and the role of the social environment in the etiology and course of major mental disorders continues to be investigated (2–5). A number of reviews published in the late 1990s documented the associations between socioeconomic position (SEP) and specific mental disorders (6–9); in 2003, a comprehensive meta-analysis of the research on SEP and depression (10) concluded that both prevalence and incidence studies show that persons of low SEP (i.e., low educational and low income levels) are at a higher risk of depression.