Socioeconomic status and health behaviors among californians

Abstract

Despite evidence indicating that socioeconomic status is multidimensional, health behavior research frequently “controls for” education or income as monolithic indicators of SES. Education and income (as well as other SES indicators) tap different aspects of SES, are only moderately correlated, and can each independently influence behavior. The specific aims of this study were to: (1) describe and disaggregate the association between different indicators of socioeconomic status—educational attainment, employment status (as a proxy for occupational status), individual income, and household income—and multiple health behaviors; (2) examine the pattern of association between SES and health behaviors by gender; and (3) explore different hypotheses linking SES and health behaviors. In this study, like previous work, educational attainment had the most consistent relationship with different health behaviors, particularly among men. However an interesting pattern of associations between different dimensions of SES and different health behaviors emerged in multivariate analyses, as did several gender differences. Although fewer psychological resources (i.e. higher levels of depression and lower feelings of control) explained the SES disadvantage in terms of sedentary living, little evidence of mediation was found for other SES-health behavior linkages. Results from this study suggest that multiple aspects of socioeconomic disadvantage can undermine various behaviors related to health. Health interventions targeting lower status populations may need to incorporate specific strategies addressing different aspects of social class.

Citation

Grzywacz, J.G. (2000), "Socioeconomic status and health behaviors among californians", Jacobs Kronenfeld, J. (Ed.) Health, Illness, and use of Care: The Impact of Social Factors (Research in the Sociology of Health Care, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 121-149. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0275-4959(00)80025-3