Some Relations Among Psychiatric Symptoms, Organic Illness, and Social Class

Abstract

Two major investigations of the prevalence of psychiatric disorder in community groups, the Midtown and Stirling County studies, relied heavily on symptoms the researchers considered psychophysiological. Both found the highest rates of psychiatric disorder in the lowest status groups. The present study of a sample of 1,710 adults in Washington Heights, New York City, indicates that the previous findings are in part a function of a distinct tendency for lower-class groups to express psychological distress in physiological terms. The present results also suggest that the higher rates are confounded with organic illness.