A longitudinal study recorded information about a group of adults before any of them had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Between the ages of 22 and 25, each person received a first diagnosis of schizophrenia. The same information was collected again when they were aged 29.
| Measure | At age 21 | At age 29 |
|---|---|---|
| In secure paid work | 68% | 34% |
| Median annual income | £22,600 | £14,900 |
| Met friends or family at least once a week | 81% | 46% |
Using social drift theory, describe how the changes shown in the table may have occurred. Your answer should include one limitation of using these data as evidence for social drift theory.
144 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 3.2 Theories/Explanations, covering 3.2.1 Clinical characteristics of schizophrenia, 3.2.2 Key statistics of schizophrenia, 3.2.3 Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, 3.2.4 Brain structure and function in schizophrenia; criticisms, 3.2.5 Social drift theory of schizophrenia, 3.2.6 Schizophrenia research study: Daniel et al. (1991), 3.2.7 Clinical characteristics of clinical depression, 3.2.8 Key statistics of clinical depression, 3.2.9 Social rank theory of clinical depression, 3.2.10 ABC Model of clinical depression, and 3.2.11 Clinical Depression research study: Tandoc et al. (2015). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.