NOTE: Although the following article has not been revised for this edition of the Encyclopedia, the substantive coverage is currently appropriate. The editors have provided a list of recent works at the end of the article to facilitate research and exploration of the topic.

The theoretical interest in social epidemiology, the study of effects of social conditions on the diffusion of distress and diseases in the population, can be traced to Durkheim's study of suicide in 1897 (1951). Since then, theory and research have elaborated on the associations among the various forms of social integration and psychiatric disorder. Among the classic works are Faris and Dunham's study of the ecology of mental disorders in urban areas (1939), Hollingshead and Redlick's research on social class and mental illness in New Haven (1958), the midtown Manhattan studies (Srole et al. 1962; Langner and Michael 1962; Srole 1975), the Sterling County studies by the Leightons and their colleagues...