The Social Determinants of the Decline of Life Expectancy in Russia and Eastern Europe: A Lifestyle Explanation

This paper examines the social origins of the rise in adult mortality in Russia and selected Eastern European countries. Three explanations for this trend are considered: (1) Soviet health policy, (2) social stress, and (3) health lifestyles. The socialist states were generally characterized by a pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of health and social behavior 1997-06, Vol.38 (2), p.117-130
Main Author: Cockerham, William C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adults
Alcohol drinking
Attrition (Research Studies)
Biological and medical sciences
Communism
Communist Societies
Comparison
Death
Eastern Europe
Europe, Eastern
Females
Health Behavior
Health Policy
Heart diseases
Humans
Hungarian
Infectious diseases
Life expectancy
Life Expectancy - trends
Life Style
Lifestyle
Lifestyles
Longevity
Male
Males
Medical sciences
Mental health
Middle Aged
Mortality
Mortality - trends
Mortality Rate
Mortality Rates
Population
Postcommunist Societies
Prevention. Health policy. Planification
Psychological Stress
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Russia
Social behavior
Social Class
Social conditions & trends
Social Differences
Social Factors
Social Problems
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Socioeconomic factors
Stress, Psychological
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Young Children
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Description
Summary:This paper examines the social origins of the rise in adult mortality in Russia and selected Eastern European countries. Three explanations for this trend are considered: (1) Soviet health policy, (2) social stress, and (3) health lifestyles. The socialist states were generally characterized by a persistently poor mortality performance as part of a long-term process of deterioration, with particularly negative outcomes for the life expectancy of middle-aged, male manual workers. Soviet-style health policy was ineffective in dealing with the crisis, and stress per se does not seem to be the primary cause of the rise in mortality. Although more research is needed, the suggestion is made that poor health lifestyles--reflected especially in heavy alcohol consumption, and also in smoking, lack of exercise, and high-fat diets--are the major social determinant of the upturn in deaths.
ISSN:0022-1465
2150-6000
DOI:10.2307/2955420