Your Resume, Your Health

Wealthy people tend to be healthy people, probably because they aren't as stressed.

By PT Staff, published on July 01, 1994 - last reviewed on August 30, 2004

The more impressive your paycheck, your job, and your diplomas, the more likely you are to be healthy.

Even in the most rarefied rungs of the socioeconomic ladder, those of higher standing are healthier than those just below, say University of California, San Francisco researchers.

Case in point: the highly stratified British Civil Service. "People who run the civil service have lower mortality rates than those in a grade just below, which is made up of doctors, lawyers, and other professionals," reports Nancy Adler, M.D., in the American Psychologist (Vol. 49, No. 1).

"The fact is, even though social class is one of the strongest predictors of health, we really don't know how it works," admits Adler. "Researchers usually just control for socioeconomic statistics (SES), rather than explain it."

She believes there are psychosocial and behavioral differences lurking between the rungs. Past research confirms that the better educated, paid, and titled you are, the less likely you are to be stressed, depressed, or hostile, all risk factors for heart disease. "And looking at health behaviors, the higher you are on the scale the less likely you are to smoke or to be obese."

But that's only part of the story. Her best guess is that ultimately it has to do with exposure to stress and coping with it. She points to research showing that high-ranking people are more likely to be in the position to influence life events, compared to those below them.

That sense of control directly contributes to a longer, healthier life. Plus it affects choices about education, occupation, housing, medical care, and other parts of the social class experience.

Access to health care can't fully explain: Health differences persisted at all levels in the British Civil Service, despite Britain's socialized health system.