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We already know poverty is expensive, and now I’ve learned it can kill you. I just read a 2005 report on poverty by Robert Sapolsky linking poverty and ill health. I can already hear a chorus of “well, no kidding,” but bear with me. This study controlled for things like access to healthcare and violence. It also addresses the complications of poverty like, say, income insecurity and ill fitting shoes. No this study says, the stress of poverty is making the poor sick. It posits, the problem is not the lack of money, it’s the lack of social capital. I can buy that. Any college graduate can attest to nights spent eating ramen, scraping change for gas and various other activities that would worry our parents, but it’s temporary (or so we hope.) It’s been a humbling experience to be living in real poverty for the last few months. I say “actual” because my current SES has no end date. I’m still not equating myself with my neighbors who are stuck. While one day (soon hopefully) I will find a job and be off to bigger and better while they stay here, with the sketchy neighbors, the soul sucking menial jobs where you take orders from some obnoxious flunky, money-related marital problems, getting fired/laid off/getting fed up with and telling off the stupid flunky boss, and the ever ubiquitous child support/custody problems accompanying divorced fathers. They don’t have the chance to ask for better. It’s the stress of being constantly picked on, pissed off and out of control that pushes your body. Couple that with a poor diet, alcohol (who wouldn’t drink?), and all those other things like sleeping on the couch and having a transient living situation and you’re asking for a heart attack. This corroborates with Harvard Happiness study which showed people without strong social support are likely to live longer and be healthier. Well, it’s difficult to establish and maintain a social support system when you don’t have a phone or only a tracphone (no minutes no phone number), limited internet access, and moving around. Also, poor people in my experience are less likely to have strong family relationships or if they do, their families are more likely to be fragmented (i.e. support from siblings but not parents.) Harvard’s study shows that all of this leads to ill health and a shorter life span. Sapolsky’s study also shows that it isn’t the lack of money, but relative poverty that creates this stress. I suppose it is because if everyone was poor then social support, safe affordable housing and a better sense of control wouldn’t be so difficult to attain.
