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HMS, HIC 2021 HSC 28b

Analyse how socioeconomic and environmental determinants can contribute to TWO major health issues affecting young people.   (12 marks)

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Overview Statement

  • Socioeconomic and environmental determinants interact significantly with mental health and substance use among young people.
  • These relationships create complex pathways that amplify health risks through multiple interconnected social and environmental factors.

Component Relationship 1: Mental Health

  • Low socioeconomic status directly influences young people’s mental health through reduced access to psychological services and increased family stress.
  • Educational disadvantage is associated with limited future employment prospects, which creates anxiety about economic security.
  • Environmental factors interact with these socioeconomic pressures when young people live in areas with poor infrastructure, limited recreational facilities and high crime rates.
  • Geographic isolation compounds mental health challenges by restricting access to counselling services, youth programs and peer support networks.
  • For instance, rural youth may wait months for specialist appointments while urban disadvantaged youth cannot afford private counselling/psychology sessions.
  • These combined determinants result in higher rates of depression and anxiety among disadvantaged youth because they face multiple stressors simultaneously without adequate coping resources.

Component Relationship 2: Substance Use

  • Socioeconomic disadvantage creates pathways to substance use through peer group influences and limited parental supervision.
  • Low family income correlates with parents working multiple jobs, reducing parental monitoring and increasing unsupervised time for risky behaviours.
  • Environmental determinants amplify these risks when young people live in areas with high availability of alcohol, cannabis and other substances.
  • Geographic location affects substance use patterns, with rural youth often experiencing higher alcohol consumption rates due to social isolation and limited recreational alternatives.
  • Additionally, disadvantaged urban areas often have greater drug accessibility and normalised substance use cultures.
  • The relationship between these determinants demonstrates how economic stress combines with environmental factors to increase vulnerability to substance experimentation and dependency.

Implications and Synthesis

  • These determinant relationships reveal that health issues among young people result from interconnected social and environmental systems rather than individual choices alone.
  • Effective interventions must therefore address multiple determinant levels simultaneously to achieve meaningful health improvements.
Show Worked Solution

Overview Statement

  • Socioeconomic and environmental determinants interact significantly with mental health and substance use among young people.
  • These relationships create complex pathways that amplify health risks through multiple interconnected social and environmental factors.

Component Relationship 1: Mental Health

  • Low socioeconomic status directly influences young people’s mental health through reduced access to psychological services and increased family stress.
  • Educational disadvantage is associated with limited future employment prospects, which creates anxiety about economic security.
  • Environmental factors interact with these socioeconomic pressures when young people live in areas with poor infrastructure, limited recreational facilities and high crime rates.
  • Geographic isolation compounds mental health challenges by restricting access to counselling services, youth programs and peer support networks.
  • For instance, rural youth may wait months for specialist appointments while urban disadvantaged youth cannot afford private counselling/psychology sessions.
  • These combined determinants result in higher rates of depression and anxiety among disadvantaged youth because they face multiple stressors simultaneously without adequate coping resources.

Component Relationship 2: Substance Use

  • Socioeconomic disadvantage creates pathways to substance use through peer group influences and limited parental supervision.
  • Low family income correlates with parents working multiple jobs, reducing parental monitoring and increasing unsupervised time for risky behaviours.
  • Environmental determinants amplify these risks when young people live in areas with high availability of alcohol, cannabis and other substances.
  • Geographic location affects substance use patterns, with rural youth often experiencing higher alcohol consumption rates due to social isolation and limited recreational alternatives.
  • Additionally, disadvantaged urban areas often have greater drug accessibility and normalised substance use cultures.
  • The relationship between these determinants demonstrates how economic stress combines with environmental factors to increase vulnerability to substance experimentation and dependency.

Implications and Synthesis

  • These determinant relationships reveal that health issues among young people result from interconnected social and environmental systems rather than individual choices alone.
  • Effective interventions must therefore address multiple determinant levels simultaneously to achieve meaningful health improvements.

♦♦ Mean mark 35%.

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 109

Explain how limited access to health services in rural areas impacts health outcomes, and discuss TWO ways in which this environmental factor interacts with other determinants of health.    (5 marks)

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Language highlighting the cause-effect relationship is bolded in the answer below.

  • Limited access to health services in rural areas directly impacts health outcomes. This occurs because delayed diagnosis and treatment allow conditions to worsen.
  • This happens when people living rurally travel hours to reach hospitals and specialists. As a result, treatment and preventative care become less accessible.

Interaction with other determinants:

  • This environmental factor interacts with socioeconomic determinants. The reason for this is rural areas typically have lower incomes. This leads to residents lacking money to overcome access barriers.
  • There is a direct link between distance and financial burden. This shows when travelling to cities for cancer screening adds costs. This relationship results in services like physiotherapy becoming unaffordable without Medicare coverage.
  • Individual determinants are also affected. This demonstrates why health literacy remains lower – it occurs because lack of local health education programs limits knowledge about preventative care.
  • These elements work together to create emotional burdens. This happens when separation from family during treatment affects mental health. This interaction allows multiple stressors to compound simultaneously.
  • To put it simply, this combination of factors multiplies health inequities. This demonstrates why rural populations experience higher mortality rates for preventable conditions. The clear connection between access, income, and knowledge creates systematic disadvantage.
Show Worked Solution

Language highlighting the cause-effect relationship is bolded in the answer below.

  • Limited access to health services in rural areas directly impacts health outcomes. This occurs because delayed diagnosis and treatment allow conditions to worsen.
  • This happens when people living rurally travel hours to reach hospitals and specialists. As a result, treatment and preventative care become less accessible.

Interaction with other determinants:

  • This environmental factor interacts with socioeconomic determinants. The reason for this is rural areas typically have lower incomes. This leads to residents lacking money to overcome access barriers.
  • There is a direct link between distance and financial burden. This shows when travelling to cities for cancer screening adds costs. This relationship results in services like physiotherapy becoming unaffordable without Medicare coverage.
  • Individual determinants are also affected. This demonstrates why health literacy remains lower – it occurs because lack of local health education programs limits knowledge about preventative care.
  • These elements work together to create emotional burdens. This happens when separation from family during treatment affects mental health. This interaction allows multiple stressors to compound simultaneously.
  • To put it simply, this combination of factors multiplies health inequities. This demonstrates why rural populations experience higher mortality rates for preventable conditions. The clear connection between access, income, and knowledge creates systematic disadvantage.

HMS, HIC EQ-Bank 018 MC

A long-term study of Australian adults found that individuals who experienced childhood trauma were more likely to develop anxiety disorders in adulthood. This relationship remained significant even when controlling for education level, income and current lifestyle factors.

Further analysis revealed that these individuals exhibited altered stress hormone responses and changes in brain structure compared to those without trauma history.

Which combination of health determinants best explains this complex health outcome?

  1. Biomedical factors and environmental factors
  2. Health behaviours and socioeconomic characteristics
  3. Broad features of society and health behaviours
  4. Environmental factors and health behaviours

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\(A\)

Show Worked Solution

  • A is correct. The altered stress hormone responses and brain changes represent biomedical factors (physiological changes), while childhood trauma represents environmental factors (early life exposures). 

    Other options:

  • B is incorrect because while education and income (socioeconomic characteristics) are mentioned, the study controlled for these factors, indicating they aren’t the primary explanatory variables. 
  • C is incorrect because broad features of society aren’t specifically addressed, and health behaviours were controlled for in the analysis.
  • D is incorrect because while environmental factors (childhood trauma) are key, health behaviours were controlled for, suggesting they aren’t primary explanatory factors for the relationship.