THE WHITEHALL STUDIES
The name 'Whitehall' originates from the first Whitehall study of 18,000 men in the Civil Service, set up in 1967.
The first Whitehall study showed that men in the lowest employment grades were much more likely to die
prematurely than men in the highest grades. The Whitehall II study was set up to determine what underlies this
grade or social gradient in death and disease and to include women.
The Whitehall II study has
shown evidence that the
way work is organised, the
work climate, social
influences outside work,
influences from early life, in
addition to [health
behaviours] all contribute to
the social gradient in health.
These lead to the
uncomfortable (for some)
finding that inequalities in
health cannot be divorced
from inequalities in society.
The inescapable conclusion
is that to address
inequalities in health it is
necessary both to understand how social organisation affects health and to find ways to improve the conditions in
which people work and live.
1. THE ORGANIS ATIO N OF SO CIETY AND WO RK HAVE A LARGE IM PA CT ON HEALTH
2. STRESS IS CAUS ED B Y A COMBINATIO N OF H IG H DEMAND AND L OW C ON TR OL
While it is common for demands to
increase as the occupational hierarchy
is ascended, degree of control over
work decreases with lower position.
Whitehall II provides ample
documentation of this: the lower the
grade of employment, the less control
over work. This combination of
imbalance between demands and
control predicted a range of illnesses.
The evidence from Whitehall II
suggested that low control was
especially important. People in jobs
characterised by low control had
higher rates of sickness absence, of
mental illness, of heart disease and
pain in the lower back.
