Socioeconomic inequalities in health : exploring new psychosocial pathways in middle-aged and older people.

Socioeconomic inequalities in health, i.e. inequalities in health between higher and lower educated people or between richer and poorer people, are an important problem worldwide. Unhealthy behaviour, which occurs more often in lower socioeconomic classes, only partly explains the inequalities. Growing up in unfavourable socioeconomic circumstances forms an individual. His personality, his coping styles and his social relations (psychosocial characteristics) are strongly influenced by the circumstances. This dissertation shows that an unfavourable psychosocial profile occurs more often in lower socioeconomic classes and this leads to greater unhealthiness, even at middle age and old age.