Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:222-225
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Social class and psychiatric outcome
TE Gift, JS Strauss, BA Ritzler, RF Kokes and DW Harder
Although social status has been shown to relate to rates of certain types
of psychiatric disorder and to treatment received, little information is
available regarding social class and clinical improvement over time. This
report presents findings from a prospective follow-up study of a
representative sample of first-admission psychiatric patients. A variety of
clinical characteristics were analyzed at hospital admission and 2-year
follow-up. The social status of the individual patient, the social status
of the patient's parents, and the social status associated with the
patient's residential area were found to be correlated with improvement
over the 2-year follow-up period.
