Socioeconomic Status and Health

Abstract Background:Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important determinant of health behaviors in individuals and contributes to a complex relationship with health. Because of this complexity, the relationship between SES and health behavior is still unclear. Thus, this literature review aims to assess the association between socioeconomic inequalities and health behaviors in children and adolescents from both developed and developing countries.Methods:Preferred Reporting for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis protocol (PRISMA-P) guideline was used to conduct a systematic literature review. The electronic online databases EBSCO Host, PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct were utilized to systematically search the published articles. Joanna Briggs Institute of critical appeal tool was deployed to assess the quality of included studies. Eligibilities criteria such as study population, study design, study type, study objective, language, and publication date were used to identify the relevant literature that measured the association between socioeconomic status and health behaviors.Results:Out of 1483 articles, only 31 met the final eligibility criteria and were assessed in this paper. Out of these studies: ten, nine, seven and five studies identified a positive association between socioeconomic status (SES) and (a) drinking alcohol; (b) physical activity; (c) fruits and vegetable consumption; (d) consumption of a healthy diet respectively. On the other hand, a negative association between SES and smoking and SES and consumption of cannabis were found by eleven and one study respectively among the children and adolescents. Conclusions:This review study found that the problem of health behaviors is continuing to be a major concern in children and adolescents, particularly those who are of low socioeconomic status. The findings of this study revealed that some specific intervention packages are needed for reducing these damaging health behaviors and enhancing the protective health behaviors in those children and adolescents from a low socioeconomic status.

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Socioeconomic status: the prime indicator of premature death in Australia

Journal of Biosocial Science ◽

10.1017/s002193200002191x ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 539-552 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

James S. Lawson ◽

Deborah Black

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Heart Disease ◽

Health Status ◽

Premature Death ◽

Social Classes ◽

Important Indicator ◽

Death Rates ◽

Socioeconomic Groups ◽

Premature Deaths ◽

Socioeconomic Status And Health

SummaryThe link between socioeconomic status and health has long been recognised. This study of deaths among Australian men aged 15–59 years demonstrates that during the 20-year period, 1966–86 the number of premature deaths was dramatically reduced among all socioeconomic groups, primarily as a result of falls in death rates due to heart disease, stroke and trauma. However, the marked differences in death rates according to social class remain, to the extent that if men of all social classes had the same mortality experiences as professional and technical workers the overall death rates for Australian men would be reduced by 60%. Socioeconomic status is the most important indicator of health status among Australians.

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CAN'T BUY ME WHITENESS

Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race ◽

10.1017/s1742058x0808003x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 27-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Jay A. Pearson

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Health Disparities ◽

Race And Ethnicity ◽

Full Range ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Missed Opportunities ◽

Demographic Groups ◽

Racial Ethnic ◽

Socioeconomic Status And Health

AbstractA basic tenet of public health is that there is a robust relationship between socioeconomic status and health. Researchers widely accept that persons at average or median levels of socioeconomic status have better health compared to those at lower levels—with a detectable, if diminishing, gradient at even higher levels of socioeconomic status. The research on which this tenet is based, however, focuses largely on Whites, especially on White men. Yet according to the full range of extant findings, the magnitude and in some cases the direction of this relationship vary considerably for other demographic groups.I argue that the failure to clearly qualify study conclusions when they are restricted to the study of Whites impedes our understanding of the varying relationship between socioeconomic status and health for different demographic groups. Such an impediment is particularly harmful when considering health inequalities among populations defined by race and ethnicity. Frameworks and models based on traditional socioeconomic measures may mask heterogeneity, overestimate the benefits of material resources, underestimate psychosocial and physical health costs of resource acquisition for some groups, and overlook the value of alternative sociocultural orientations. These missed opportunities have grave consequences: large racial/ethnic health disparities persist while the health disadvantages of Black Americans continue to grow in key aspects. A new knowledge base is needed if racial/ethnic health disparities are to be eliminated, including new guiding theoretical frameworks, reinterpretations of existing research, and new empirical research. This article aims to initiate discussion on all three dimensions.

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