The Sociogenesis of Psychological Disorder: Reexamining the Causal Issues with Longitudinal Data

Abstract

Although there is some consistency to the finding that socioeconomic status is related inversely to various measures and concepts of psychological disorder, the causal interpretation of this relationship remains uncertain. As usually stated, the issue is whether this inverse relationship arises from the fact and that low social status leads to disorder symptomatology (referred to as social causation) or a high degree of symptomatology impairs the individual's ability to be upwardly mobile (social selection). Research on this issue is far from definitive, especially for less severe types of symptomatology. The causal question is reformulated here in terms of the possible outcomes of a causal analysis of panel data. Based on data from two studies which each measure SES and psychological disorder symptomatology at multiple points in time, results from estimating a series of panel models incorporating unobserved variable specifications of both SES and disorder favor a social causation interpretation. However, differences in results across samples suggest that some modification of the simple social causation position may be necessary.