(Subject/Class)
Demographic Factors
The term demographic factorsis derived from the word “demography” which refers to the study of the size, territorial distribution, and composition of population, changes therein, and the components of such changes (Hauser & Duncan, 1959). Demographic factors specifically refer to the characteristics assigned to age, sex, education, income, marital status, job, religion, birth rate, death rate, family size, and marraige age (The Law Dictionary). Some of them are defined by nature while others are subject to human control.
These factors largely affect one’s health status, health-related behavior, and the type of health services that an individual receive. Race can be defined as a division of the world’s population on the basis of physical characteristics, i.e. skin color, hair, etc. For instance, Whites, such as Caucasians are more susceptible to skin cancer compared to the other races.
Gender is used interchangeably with sex. It refers to the categorization of human beings as either male or female. The level of activities and needs differ between males and females. Some disease conditions are gender-specific; prostate cancer only affects males while ovarian cancer only affects females.
Age is defined as a stage of life in which a particular individual is currently living, usually expressed as the number of years one has lived. Individuals in different stages have different health care needs. Infants and geriatric patients are more vulnerable to diseases compared to the middle-aged due to lower immunity.
As mentioned earlier, some demographic factors are controllable by humans. A person’s employment status and the income greatly influenced the health status, and the manner and type of health services they receive. Usually, persons who are unemployed and those who has lower income tends to seek for cheaper services or none at all.
Another important factor is the level of education a person posses. Mostly, people with high and sufficient education tend to seek better health services. This is mainly because they understand the value of quality health. On the other hand, those with lesser or no education will go for poor quality health services because they are mostly cheaper.
Works Cited
Hauser, P. M., and Duncan, O. D. (Eds.) (1959). The Study of Population: An Inventory and Appraisal, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
The Law Dictionary. (Eds.) (n.d). What is DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS?. Retrieved from http://thelawdictionary.org/demographic-factors/.
