Psychosocial determinants of health in social epidemiology

Extract

The current issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology (IJE) has several papers with a psychosocial theme. As its popularity has increased over the past decade, the use of the term ‘psychosocial’ has been very varied within health research including social epidemiology. A quick glance at Medline shows that it has been used in connection with at least the following: causes and risk factors (‘psychosocial causation’, ‘psychosocial influences’, ‘psychosocial risk factors’), mediating factors and contexts (‘psychosocial mechanisms’, ‘psychosocial environment’, ‘psychosocial context’, ‘psychosocial resources’, ‘psychosocial support’), and outcomes (‘psychosocial (di)stress’, ‘psychosocial well-being’ and ‘psychosocial health’).

The ideas underlying many of the articles in this themed issue of IJE reflect this broader and more general use of the term ‘psychosocial’. The articles derive from diverse sociological, psychological and social epidemiological paradigms, and they do not share common roots, nor do they arrive at common theoretical frameworks or a set of common testable research questions. Rather, ‘psychosocial’ is used as an umbrella term under which diverse research inquiries are carried out, without any specific consideration for how ‘psychosocial’ might further our understanding of the pathways leading to ill-health.