DOCSLIB.ORG

Measuring Socioeconomic Status and Inequalities David I

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Measuring Socioeconomic Status and Inequalities David I PART 1 . PART 1 EVIDENCE OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES IN CANCER CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 4. Measuring socioeconomic status and inequalities David I. Conway, Alex D. McMahon, Denise Brown, and Alastair H. Leyland “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi (our emphasis) Introduction fundamental, and stark example of tries (as detailed in Chapters 5 and 6), measuring health inequalities. The and they have an impact across the In 2008, the World Health Organi- authors of this chapter all work in cancer continuum, from burden and zation’s pioneering Commission on Glasgow, and are driven by the aim risk, to early detection, diagnosis, Social Determinants of Health mea- of tackling this inequality. and treatment (see Chapter 7), and sured the extent of health inequali- Measures of health inequality, to outcomes including quality of life, ties in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, which are determined by inequali- mortality, and survival. Inequalities as an example. The final report re- ties in income, wealth, and power also exist across other population vealed that a boy in the deprived (WHO, 2010), are a reflection of the groups and communities (defined area of Calton had an average life levels of justice and fairness in so- by sex, age, race or ethnicity, geo- expectancy of 54 years compared ciety. The measurement of inequal- graphical area, time periods, and with a boy in the affluent suburb of ities in health is essential to define, health status, for example), although Lenzie, only 12 km away, who could describe, and understand the nature socioeconomic status (SES) is often expect to live to an age of 82 years of the public health problem; it is a a major factor in these differences (CSDH, 2008): a gap of 28 years. crucial first step in the development (United Kingdom Government, 2010; Michael Marmot, chair of the World of strategies and policies to tackle Krieger, 2014). This chapter de- Health Organization Commission, health inequalities, and in the moni- scribes two key aspects of measure- later reflected in his book The Health toring and evaluation of the effective- ment and analysis of SES in relation Gap that this “was a tale of two cit- ness of approaches. to cancer: indicators of SES, and ies ... and they are both in Glasgow” Socioeconomic inequalities can metrics of health inequality between (Marmot, 2015). This is a most basic, exist both within and between coun- socioeconomic strata. Part 1 • Chapter 4. Measuring socioeconomic status and inequalities 29 Indicators of SES vidual or area-based level. In social (e.g. Liberatos et al., 1988; Berkman epidemiology, these indicators are and Macintyre, 1997; Krieger, 2001; SES or socioeconomic position is used to capture and analyse the Galobardes et al., 2006a, b; Glymour a theoretical construct of socioeco- impacts of social determinants of et al., 2014). Drawing from and ex- nomic hierarchies with roots in the health (Glymour et al., 2014). Several panding on these reviews, we sum- social theories of Weber and Marx comprehensive reviews of SES indi- marize individual indicators of SES, (Lynch and Kaplan, 2000). SES is cators have discussed in detail the including examples of indicators and conceptualized through indicators strengths and weaknesses of the dif- notes on their interpretation, in Table or measures collected at the indi- ferent approaches to measurement 4.1. Table 4.1. Individual indicators of socioeconomic status: their measurement and interpretation (continued) Indicator Measurement and examples Interpretation and comments Income Individual or household: monthly or annual; Measures access to material resources (food, shelter, and before taxes; equivalized (household culture) and access to services (health care, leisure or income by household size) recreation activities, and education) Government or state welfare benefit Relates to social standing or prestige support; food stamps Reverse causality: health impacts on level of income Absolute or relative poverty thresholds Context-specific: country, sex, age Education Educational attainment: highest level Reflects early-life SES, usually stable across the life-course attained; qualifications; years completed; Strong determinant of employment and income ISCED Influences position in society or social networks Affects access to health care or information Determines values, cognitive decision-making, risk taking, behaviours, and life skills Affects exposure to and ability to cope with stressors Reverse causality: childhood poor health impacts on school attendance and attainment Context-specific: country education system, age cohorts Occupation Employment or job history: longest, first, Reflects social standing or prestige, working relations and last; blue or white collar; manual or non- conditions manual; “head of household”; RGSC; Strong determinant of income NS-SEC; European Socioeconomic Based on educational attainment Classification; American Census Influences social networks, work-based stress, autonomy Classification; Wright’s Social Classification or control (Wright, 1997); Lombardi et al. Social Reflects occupational hazards, exposures, or demands Classification (Lombardi et al., 1988); Excludes some groups (e.g. retired people, unpaid home Erikson and Goldthorpe Classification workers or “housewives”, students, some self-employed) (Erikson and Goldthorpe, 1992); country- Context-specific: country (level of industrialization or specific classifications; ISEI; SIOPS deindustrialization), age cohorts Unemployment experience (ever or number Unemployment has particular impacts on social exclusion of years) and income, poverty, and access to health care Type of contract: salaried or hourly wage; Reverse causality: health impacts on (un)employment part-time, full-time, or zero-hours; short- or long-term contract; job insecurity Wealth Assets (total or specific): land, property, Reflects material aspect of socioeconomic circumstances livestock; housing tenure; ownership of car, Relates to income refrigerator, television, etc.; DHS; FAS Context-specific: country, rural or urban Reverse causality: health impacts ability to accumulate wealth Housing Housing quality or conditions: overcrowding Direct impact: exposures for specific diseases (number of residents per number of rooms); Relates to material circumstances dampness; housing type; water and Context-specific: country development sanitation Reverse causality: health impacts on money available to spend on housing 30 Table 4.1. Individual indicators of socioeconomic status: their measurement and interpretation (continued) Indicator Measurement and examples Interpretation and comments Compositional Combinations of SES metrics: education or Attempts to capture multiple dimensions of SES; however, PART 1 income (study-specific); income and wealth composite indicators perhaps mask specific relationships CHAPTER 4 (FAS); WAMI and mechanisms which individual SES measurements Historic indicators: Hollingshead index provide of social position; Duncan index; Nam–Powers socioeconomic status; Warner’s index of status characteristics Childhood SES Parental SES: parental (father’s or Used in life-course SES analyses to capture childhood mother’s) occupation; household income socioeconomic circumstances or conditions; child-related benefits (e.g. entitlement to free school meals) Educational attainment (end of childhood or early years) Subjective SES Self-identification, comparison, or Individual’s perception of his or her socioeconomic standing satisfaction: self-identification as upper, Relates to objective indicators of SES middle, or lower class; comparison of Could be part of psychosocial pathway of health inequalities income with others; satisfaction with income; MacArthur Scales of subjective social status Social capital Social support, inclusion, or exclusion: Commonly measures domains of connectedness, more than 100 tools identified in recent community participation, and citizenship; no single systematic review (25 with validated instrument measures all aspects within the three domains psychometric elements; Cordier et al., of social inclusion 2017); CAMSIS Hierarchical social interactions reflect social and material advantage; conversely, social exclusion from social and community life can result from economic deprivation and low SES CAMSIS, Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification Scale; DHS, Demographic and Health Surveys Wealth Index; FAS, Family Affluence Scale; ISCED, International Standard Classification of Education; ISEI, International Socioeconomic Index; NS-SEC, National Statistics Socioeconomic Classification (UK); RGSC, Registrar General’s Social Classification (UK); SES, socioeconomic status; SIOPS, Treiman’s Standard International Occupational Prestige Scale; WAMI, water and sanitation, the selected approach to measuring household wealth (assets), maternal education, and income index. SES indicators have typically 2008), lung (Sidorchuk et al., 2009), These indicators are frequently used included individual measures of in- stomach (Uthman et al., 2013), colon in descriptive epidemiological analy- come, education, and occupational and rectum (Manser and Bauerfeind, ses of cancer registry data at the state social class, and these measures 2014), head and neck (Conway et or regional level (Harper and Lynch, have formed the mainstay of cancer al., 2015), and breast (Lundqvist et 2005) or country level (Purkayastha et socioeconomic analyses in relation al., 2016). These analyses sought
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Socioeconomic Status and Increasing Mid-Life Mortality Planning Meeting
    Socioeconomic Status and Increasing Mid-life Mortality Planning Meeting June 16, 2017 Keck Center of the National Academies Washington, DC 20001 Meeting Summary Revised October 14, 2017 This meeting summary was prepared by Rose Li and Associates, Inc., under contract to the National Institute on Aging HHSN271201400038C/0025. The views expressed in this document reflect both individual and collective opinions of the meeting participants and not necessarily those of the National Institutes of Health, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, or any organization represented at the meeting. Writing and editing contributions to earlier versions of this meeting summary by the following individuals is gratefully acknowledged: Jere Behrman, Jason Boardman, Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, Dana Glei, John Haaga, Robert Hummer, Amelia Karraker, Rose Li, Ryan Masters, David Miller, Shannon Monnat, Jennifer Karas Montez, Samuel Thomas, Nancy Tuvesson, Maxine Weinstein, and John Wilmoth. SES and Increasing Mid-Life Mortality Planning Meeting June 16, 2017 Table of Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... iii Meeting Summary........................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Overview of Trends and Differentials
    [Show full text]
  • Socioeconomic Status (SES) and Psychiatric Disorders*
    Soc PsychiatryPsychiatr Epidemiol (1990)25:4147 Social Psychiatryand Spfinger-Verlag1990 Psychiatric Epidemiology Socioeconomic status (SES) and psychiatric disorders* Are the issues still compelling? B. R Dohrenwend New York State PsychiatricInstitute and Social PsychiatryResearch Unit, ColumbiaUniversity, New York, USA Summary. One of the most consistent findings in psychia- Despite these changes in concepts and methods, there tric epidemiology prior to 1980 has been that socioeco- was remarkable consistency in the findings of the first and nomic status (SES) was inversely related to the recent pre- second generation studies with regard to relations be- valence of a variety of important types of disorder. The tween the psychiatric disorders and various demographic findings raised and re-raised major issues about the role of factors, most notably gender and socioeconomic status adversity in these disorders. In recent years, however, re- (SES). For SES, inverse relations were found with total search interest in these issues has been declining. At the rates aggregated across subtypes, for schizophrenia, for same time, marked changes have been taking place in the the personality disorders consisting largely of antisocial case identification and diagnostic procedures available for behaviors and substance abuse, and for symptom scales of epidemiological research. In this paper, I inquire into nonspecific distress (Dohrenwend et al. 1980 a; Dohren- whether these changes in diagnostic concepts and meth- wend 1983). ods have led to a change in the "facts" that gave rise to the These findings have raised and re-raised over the years issues about the role of SES. I rely particularly on results the classic social stress-social selection issue.
    [Show full text]
  • Parental Socioeconomic Status Or IQ? an Exploration of Major Determinants of U.S
    Parental Socioeconomic Status or IQ? An Exploration of Major Determinants of U.S. Poverty The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Smith, Dillon M. 2018. Parental Socioeconomic Status or IQ? An Exploration of Major Determinants of U.S. Poverty. Student paper, EC970, Department of Economics, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:36853954 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Parental Socioeconomic Status or IQ? An Exploration of Major Determinants of U.S. Poverty Dillon M. Smith 4/30/2018 Abstract The Bell Curve by Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein is one of the most controversial academic works of the last few decades. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youths (1979), we performed a number of regressions of poverty status in 1989 on parental socioeconomic status, IQ, race, sex, and age. We replicate their results which show that IQ is a more important predictor of poverty status than parental socioeconomic status (SES). We extend their analysis to other groupings and find that, while similar, the underlying relationship between the variables and poverty status varies across groups. We then compared ratios of the percentage of the top 25% to bottom 25% of either IQ or parental SES in poverty. We found that parental SES had three times the predictive power as SES for black respondents and twice the predictive power for Hispanic respondents over whites, also finding a greater proportion of respondents in poverty at all levels for minority groups than for white respondents with a similar relationship for females compared to males.
    [Show full text]
  • Age, Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Growth
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES AGE, SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND OBESITY GROWTH Charles L. Baum II Christopher J. Ruhm Working Paper 13289 http://www.nber.org/papers/w13289 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 August 2007 We thank seminar participants at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Triangle Health Economics Workshop for useful comments, as well as Darius Lakdawalla for help obtaining measures of job-related physical demands. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. © 2007 by Charles L. Baum II and Christopher J. Ruhm. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Age, Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Growth Charles L. Baum II and Christopher J. Ruhm NBER Working Paper No. 13289 August 2007 JEL No. I12 ABSTRACT The rapid growth in obesity represents a major public concern. Although body weight tends to increase with age, the evolution of obesity over the lifecycle is not well understood. We use longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine how body weight changes with age for a cohort moving through early adulthood. We further investigate how the age-obesity gradient differs with socioeconomic status (SES) and begin to examine channels for these SES disparities. Our analysis uncovers three main findings. First, weight rises with age but is inversely related to SES at given ages. Second, the SES-obesity gradient widens over the lifecycle, a result consistent with research examining other health outcomes such as overall status or specific medical conditions.
    [Show full text]
  • Contributing Factors in Adolescents' Mental Well-Being—The
    sustainability Article Contributing Factors in Adolescents’ Mental Well-Being—The Role of Socioeconomic Status, Social Support, and Health Behavior Gabriella Nagy-Pénzes 1,2 , Ferenc Vincze 2 and Éva Bíró 2,* 1 Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 26. Kassai Street, 4028 Debrecen, Hungary; [email protected] 2 Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 26. Kassai Street, 4028 Debrecen, Hungary; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +36-52-512-765 (ext. 77405) Received: 16 September 2020; Accepted: 16 November 2020; Published: 18 November 2020 Abstract: Mental disorders are common in adolescents, and for effective interventions we should be aware of their determinants. However, there are only a small number of studies investigating the combined effect of multiple factors. Therefore, our aim is to assess the impact of socioeconomic status, social support, and health behavior on adolescents’ mental well-being. A cross-sectional health survey of 1641 children was carried out in accordance with the study protocol of the Hungarian Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey. Multivariate multiple regression was used to analyze the main determinants of mental well-being. The boys’ mental well-being was favorable compared to girls; lower subjective family wealth was associated with lower life satisfaction and depressive mood. Life satisfaction was positively related to healthy eating, social support, and physical activity. Unhealthy eating, sedentary lifestyle, and lower social support were associated with higher depression scores. Higher social support reduces psychosomatic symptoms, while unhealthy eating and spending a lot of time in front of the computer increase them.
    [Show full text]
  • Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms
    NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND HEALTH: DIMENSIONS AND MECHANISMS David M. Cutler Adriana Lleras-Muney Tom Vogl Working Paper 14333 http://www.nber.org/papers/w14333 NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 September 2008 We thank Sherry Glied and Peter Smith for comments. This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation GRFP and the National Institutes on Aging. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer- reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications. © 2008 by David M. Cutler, Adriana Lleras-Muney, and Tom Vogl. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source. Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms David M. Cutler, Adriana Lleras-Muney, and Tom Vogl NBER Working Paper No. 14333 September 2008 JEL No. I1 ABSTRACT This paper reviews the evidence on the well-known positive association between socioeconomic status and health. We focus on four dimensions of socioeconomic status -- education, financial resources, rank, and race and ethnicity -- paying particular attention to how the mechanisms linking health to each of these dimensions diverge and coincide. The extent to which socioeconomic advantage causes good health varies, both across these four dimensions and across the phases of the lifecycle.
    [Show full text]
  • Measuring Student Socioeconomic Status: Toward a Comprehensive Approach
    SCHOOL FINANCE SERIES Measuring Student Socioeconomic Status Toward a Comprehensive Approach Peter W. Cookson Jr. MAY 2020 Measuring Student Socioeconomic Status: Toward a Comprehensive Approach Peter W. Cookson Jr. Acknowledgments The author thanks Linda Darling-Hammond, Janel George, Stephanie Levin, and Caitlin Scott for their careful reading of the report and for their timely and wise editorial suggestions. In addition, I thank Erin Chase and Aaron Reeves for their editing and design contributions to this project and the entire LPI communications team for its invaluable support in developing and disseminating this report. Without their generosity of time and spirit, this work would not have been possible. This research was supported by the Raikes Foundation. Core operating support for the Learning Policy Institute is provided by the Sandler Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. We are grateful to them for their generous support. The ideas voiced here are those of the author and not those of our funders. External Reviewers This report benefited from the insights and expertise of two external reviewers: Kristin Blagg, Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute; and Thurston Domina, Professor and Program Coordinator of Policy, Leadership, and School Improvement at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. We thank them for the care and attention they gave the report. The appropriate citation for this report is: Cookson, P. W., Jr. (2020). Measuring student socioeconomic status: Toward a comprehensive approach. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. This report can be found online at https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ measuring-student-socioeconomic-status. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
    [Show full text]
  • Obesity and Inequities
    Obesity and inequities Guidance for addressing inequities in overweight and obesity Obesity and inequities Guidance for addressing inequities in overweight and obesity Written by: Belinda Loring Aileen Robertson Abstract This policy guidance aims to support European policy-makers to improve the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions and policies to reduce inequities in overweight and obesity. The prevalence of obesity in Europe is rising in many countries, and rising fastest in low socioeconomic population groups. There is a strong relationship between obesity and low socioeconomic status, especially for women. Reducing health inequities is a key strategic objective of Health 2020 – the European policy framework for health and well-being endorsed by the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region in 2012. This guide seeks to assist European policy-makers in contributing to achieving the objectives of Health 2020 in a practical way. It draws on key evidence, including from the Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region. It sets out options to reduce the unequal distribution of obesity in Europe, through approaches which address the social determinants of obesity and the related health, social and economic consequences of the obesity inequity gradient. Keywords HEALTH POLICY OBESITY OVERWEIGHT SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS Address requests about publications of the WHO Regional Office for Europe to: Publications WHO Regional Office for Europe UN City, Marmorvej 51 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Alternatively, complete an online request form for documentation, health information, or for permission to quote or translate, on the Regional Office website (http://www.euro.who.int/pubrequest).
    [Show full text]
  • Socioeconomic Status, Reactions to Choice Deprivation in Group
    Grand Valley State University ScholarWorks@GVSU Papers from the International Association for Cross- IACCP Cultural Psychology Conferences 2018 Socioeconomic Status, Reactions to Choice Deprivation in Group Contexts, and the Role of Perceived Restrictions on Personal Freedom Charis Eisen Kobe University, [email protected] Keiko Ishii Kobe University Hidefumi Hitokoto Fukuoka University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/iaccp_papers Part of the Psychology Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Eisen, C., Ishii, K., & Hitokoto, H. (2018). Socioeconomic status, reactions to choice deprivation in group contexts, and the role of perceived restrictions on personal freedom. In M. Karasawa, M. Yuki, K. Ishii, Y. Uchida, K. Sato, & W. Friedlmeier (Eds.), Venture into cross-cultural psychology: Proceedings from the 23rd Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/iaccp_papers/153/ This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the IACCP at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS, CHOICE DEPRIVATION, AND PERSONAL FREEDOM 2 Abstract This research examined whether socioeconomic status (SES) predicts reactions to situations in which a group member decides for the entire group, thereby depriving other group members of personal choice. We found, as predicted, that Americans with higher subjective SES accepted choice deprivation less and demanded personal choice more than subjectively lower SES Americans.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Inequalities in Health: Disentangling the Underlying Mechanisms
    Social Inequalities in Health: Disentangling the Underlying Mechanisms Noreen Goldman Office of Population Research Princeton University I gratefully acknowledge support from the Behavioral and Social Research Program of the National Institute on Aging (grant R01-AG16790) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P30-HD32030). I would also like to thank Maryann Belanger for her tireless assistance in tracking down bibliographic materials and Burt Singer, Anne Pebley, Angus Deaton, and Maxine Weinstein for their advice and comments. Forthcoming: Conference Proceedings of the seminar on "Demography and Epidemiology: Frontiers in Population Health and Aging,” Georgetown University, Washington D.C. February 9-10, 2001. New York Academy of Sciences. Abstract Differentials in health and longevity by socioeconomic status and by the nature of social relationships have been found in innumerable studies in the social and medical sciences. Three categories of explanations for the observed patterns have been proposed: causal mechanisms through which the social environment affects health status or the risk of dying; selection or reverse causal pathways whereby a person’s health status affects their social position; and artifactual mechanisms such as measurement error. The general consensus among researchers is that the observed disparities in health are driven largely by a complex set of causal processes rather than by selection or by artifactual mechanisms. This paper explores the set of arguments and strategies that researchers have used to arrive at this conclusion. As part of this undertaking, we assess whether inferences regarding the minor contribution of selection to the overall association between social factors and health are justifiable.
    [Show full text]
  • Are Psychosocial Factors Mediators of Socioeconomic Status and Health Connections? a Progress Report and Blueprint for the Future
    Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. ISSN 0077-8923 ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Issue: The Biology of Disadvantage Are psychosocial factors mediators of socioeconomic status and health connections? A progress report and blueprint for the future Karen A. Matthews,1 Linda C. Gallo,2 and Shelley E. Taylor3 1University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. 2San Diego State University, San Diego, CA. 3University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA Address for correspondence: Karen A. Matthews, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O’Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. [email protected] The association between socioeconomic status (SES) and physical health is robust. Yet, the psychosocial mediators of SES-health association have been studied in relatively few investigations. In this chapter, we summarize and critique the recent literature regarding negative emotions and cognitions, psychological stress, and resources as potential pathways connecting SES and physical health. We discuss the psychosocial origins of the SES-health links and outline how psychosocial factors may lead to persistently low SES. Weconclude that psychosocial resources may play a critical mediating role, and the origins of the SES-health connection are apparent in childhood. Weoffer a blueprint for future research, which we hope contributes to a better understanding of how SES gets under the skin across the life span. Keywords: socioeconomic status; emotions; stress; resources; development health. From a psychosocial perspective, the lead- Introduction ing candidate pathways are the frequency and in- It is well established that socioeconomic status (SES) tensity of exposure to stress and related emotional is a strong correlate of health across the lifespan.
    [Show full text]
  • Cancer Patient Survival by Socioeconomic Status in the Netherlands: a Review for Six Common Cancer Sites
    Journal ofEpidemiology and Community Health 1994;48:441-446 441 J Epidemiol Community Health: first published as 10.1136/jech.48.5.441 on 1 October 1994. Downloaded from Cancer patient survival by socioeconomic status in The Netherlands: a review for six common cancer sites Carola T M Schrijvers, Johan P Mackenbach Abstract of common cancer sites: colon, rectum, lung Study objective - To study the size and prostate, breast, and cervix. consistency of socioeconomic differences in cancer patient survival as reported in published studies. Methods Methods - A systematic review was con- The study material was selected through Med- ducted. Several criteria were developed to line and the references of papers and books, select the study material, which resulted which resulted in 40 papers on socioeconomic in 14 reports on socioeconomic differences differences in cancer survival. To enable a use- in survival for cancers of the colon, ful comparison of the results of the reviewed rectum, lung, prostate, breast, and cervix. studies to be made some exclusion criteria were These present results on patients from the developed. United States, Japan, Australia, United Studies on patients diagnosed in the 1950s Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and Ger- or earlier were excluded. many. The results are summarised in a Hospital based studies were excluded be- relative risk of dying or survival ratio for cause cancer patients treated in specific hos- the lowest socioeconomic status group pitals may not be representative of cancer compared with the highest. patients in the general population. In particular, Results - For cancers ofthe colon, rectum, socioeconomic contrast may be larger in the breast, and cervix, patients from higher general population than in a hospital popu- socioeconomic status groups had a better lation.
    [Show full text]