Effect Of Individual Socioeconomic Status Research Articles

Joint effects of individual socioeconomic status and residential neighborhood context on vaginal microbiome composition.

The vaginal microbiome is a dynamic ecosystem that is important for women's health. Its composition has been associated with risk for menopausal symptoms, sexually transmitted infections, gynecologic cancer, and preterm birth. Conventional risk factors for a vaginal microbiome linked with these adverse health outcomes include sexual behaviors, hygiene practices, individual social factors, and stress levels. However, there has been limited research on socio-contextual determinants, and whether neighborhood context modifies the association with individual socioeconomic factors. Socioeconomically diverse pregnant African American women in Atlanta, Georgia (n = 439) provided residential addresses and first trimester vaginal swab samples, which underwent sequencing, taxonomic classification, and assignment into mutually exclusive CST (community state types) via hierarchical clustering. Linear probability models were used to estimate prevalence differences (PD) for the associations of neighborhood factors with vaginal microbiome CST and to evaluate for additive interaction with maternal level of education, health insurance type, and recruitment hospital. Factors such as higher (vs. lower) maternal education, private (vs. public) insurance, and private (vs. public) hospital were associated with higher prevalence of Lactobacillus-dominant vaginal microbiome CSTs typically associated with better health outcomes. When considering the joint effects of these individual socioeconomic status and residential neighborhood factors on vaginal microbiome CST, most combinations showed a greater than additive effect among the doubly exposed; however, in the case of local income homogeneity and local racial homogeneity, there was evidence of a crossover effect between those with less-advantaged individual socioeconomic status and those with more-advantaged individual socioeconomic status. Compared to women at the public hospital who lived in economically diverse neighborhoods, women at the private hospital who lived in economically diverse neighborhoods had a 21.9% higher prevalence of Lactobacillus-dominant CSTs, while women at the private hospital who lived in less economically diverse neighborhoods (the doubly exposed) had only an 11.7% higher prevalence of Lactobacillus-dominant CSTs, showing a crossover effect (interaction term p-value = 0.004). In this study, aspects of residential neighborhood context were experienced differently by women on the basis of their individual resources, and the joint effects of these exposures on vaginal microbiome CST showed a departure from simple additivity for some factors.

The micro-macro interplay of economic factors in late-life loneliness: Evidence from Europe and China.

Individual socioeconomic status has a significant impact on whether older adults can initiate and maintain social relationships and participate in society, hence it affects loneliness. At the macro level, income inequality is expected to increase the risk of loneliness by eroding social cohesion and trust, while welfare generosity might protect people from loneliness. The aim of the study is to explore whether income inequality and welfare generosity at the country level moderate the effect of socioeconomic status at the individual level on late-life loneliness. Data were obtained from the HRS family of surveys – the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (wave 5, 2011/12) and China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) (wave 2, 2012/13). Respondents aged 50 years and older from twelve European countries and China were included in the study. Logistic country fixed effect models were used in the analysis. The findings show a stronger effect of individual socioeconomic status on late-life loneliness in more income-unequal societies and a weaker effect in more welfare-generous societies. There is a need to consider the impact of income distribution and welfare spending on the risk of loneliness among those older adults with low socioeconomic status when tailoring preventive programs and interventions to reduce loneliness among this vulnerable group.

Association between secondhand smoke exposure in pregnant women and their socioeconomic status and its interaction with age: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundExisting evidence highlights that exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is a risk factor for pregnant women’s health and is possibly affected by individual characteristics. This study aimed to explore the effect of individual socioeconomic status (SES) on SHS exposure among pregnant women in the third trimester and the interaction effect of age.MethodsA total of 678 nonsmoking pregnant women with a median age of 29.0 years from 14 communities in a medium-sized city were recruited for this survey. Exposure to SHS was defined as the self-reported smoking habit of a spouse/partner. Individual SES characteristics consisted of marital status, educational attainment, employment and per capita monthly income.ResultsThere were 238 (35.1%) participants who suffered from SHS exposure. Compared to the pregnant women who were employed, those who were unemployed were more likely to suffer from SHS exposure (OR = 1.572, 95% CI: 1.013–2.441). Participants who had a high school or technical secondary school education were more likely to be exposed to SHS than those with a college education or above (OR = 1.601, 95% CI: 1.029–2.449). Advanced age was a protective factor for participants with a college education or above (OR = 0.939, 95% CI: 0.884–0.997), but age increased the risk of SHS exposure among women who had unstable marriages (OR = 1.256, 95% CI: 1.019–1.549).ConclusionExposure to SHS was very common among pregnant women in the third trimester. Pregnant women with a low SES and an older age should be considered a key population for the implementation of public health interventions.

P143 Effect of individual socioeconomic status on incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A case-control study

P143 Effect of individual socioeconomic status on incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A case-control study

How Schoolmates Affect Your Chances of Getting into College: School Socioeconomic Composition and Inequality in Access to Higher Education

The problem of socioeconomic inequalities in Russian education takes on particular significance in the context of massification and increasingly differential quality of higher education. Relevant research is mostly focused on individual student characteristics and regional aspects. Less often, researchers’ attention is attracted to school factors, such as school socioeconomic composition (SEC) — one of the most powerful school predictors of student achievement. The effect of school composition on students’ educational trajectories remains underinvestigated, although higher education is more important for life chances than school achievement. In the present study, Russian data (the Higher School of Economics’ project Trajectories in Education and Careers) is used for the first time to measure the effect of school SEC on educational choices and chances of getting into college. This effect is analyzed successively for key decisions and outcomes at every stage of long-term educational trajectories. Analysis is performed with due regard to the specifics of Russian education and the sorting of students into the academic and hybrid tracks in pursuit for college degrees. School composition is found to be positively associated with proceeding from middle to high school, obtaining a college degree, and pursuing a Master’s degree. The largest influence of school SEC on college enrollment is observed for students who enroll in vocational studies after middle school. The compositional effect is extremely robust and persists even when student achievement and family characteristics are controlled for. Adding school SEC to the model offsets the effect of individual socioeconomic status on the likelihood of going to college, which means that exclusion of SEC from analysis may lead to invalid inferences in educational research. The effects detected cannot be explained by differences in achievement, so it would be reasonable to explore the social mechanisms behind the compositional effect in further research. School desegregation measures suggested on the basis of prior findings may turn out to be hasty and overly drastic in practice.

Natural Outdoors Environments and Obesity: The Multicase-Control Study in Spain (MCC-Spain)

Background/Aim: Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, cancer and all cause mortality. The association between green spaces and reduced risk of overweight/obesity has been previously studied, but results are not consistent. We studied the association between surrounding greenness and residential proximity to green areas and overweight/obesity in Spain. Methods: 8112 study participants between 20-85 years old were recruited between 2008-13 from 23 hospitals in 12 provinces of Spain, as part of the multi-case control Spain study (MCC-Spain). We geocoded the current residence of each participant, and assigned different indicators of exposure to natural outdoor environments: access to urban green areas according to Urban Atlas; access to agricultural areas according to CORINE Land Cover 2006 and surrounding greenness according to the average of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. We used multinomial logistic mixed-effects models with a random effect for hospital and adjusted for potential confounders. We also explored the potential modifier effect of individual socio-economic status, degree of urbanization and sex. Results : Access to urban green areas seemed to slightly reduce the risk of overweight/obesity after adjusting for age, sex, case-control status, education, socioeconomic status at individual and area level and degree of urbanization of place of residence [overweight: RRR (95%CI)=0.93 (0.79 – 1.09), obesity: IRR(95%CI)=0.89 (0.73-1.08)]. The protective effect of urban green spaces was more pronounced in densely populated areas. On the contrary, access to agricultural areas seemed to increase the risk [overweight: adjusted RRR (95%CI)=1.13 (0.97-1.32), obesity: adjusted IRR(95%CI)= 1.08 (0.9-1.3)]. No effect was observed for surrounding greenness [overweight: adjusted RRR (95%CI)= 0.97 (0.91-1.04), obesity: adjusted IRR(95%CI)= 0.97 (0.89-1.05)]. Conclusions: No clear association was observed between access to green spaces and overweight/obesity. The suggested effects however, were depended on land-use.

Neighbourhood deprivation and incident mobility disability in older adults

to assess whether incident mobility disability and neighbourhood deprivation in older people are associated independent of the effects of individual socio-economic status, health behaviours and health status. prospective cohort study with a 2-year follow-up. the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a national probability sample of non-institutionalised older people. 4,148 participants aged 60 years and over. exposure was a census-based index of neighbourhood deprivation [the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)]; outcomes were measured and self-reported incident mobility difficulties. neighbourhood deprivation had a statistically significant effect on physical function following adjustment for individual socio-economic factors, health behaviours and health status. Compared to those living in the least deprived 20% of neighbourhoods, those in the most deprived neighbourhoods had a risk ratio (RR) of incident self-reported mobility difficulties of 1.75 (95% CI 1.14-2.70) and RR of incident-impaired gait speed of 1.63 (95% CI 1.01-2.62). In adjusted models, 4.0 per 100 (95% CI 3.0-5.4) older adults in neighbourhoods in the least deprived 20% had incident mobility difficulties over a 2-year period, whereas 13.6 per 100 (95% CI 10.5-17.4) older adults had incident mobility difficulties in neighbourhoods in the most deprived 20%. older people living in deprived neighbourhoods are significantly more likely to experience incident mobility difficulties than those in less-deprived neighbourhoods. The mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear and research to identify mechanisms and appropriate interventions is needed.

Health locus of control beliefs and socio-economic differences in self-rated health

Background. Social inequalities in health are well documented in the social epidemiology literature. However, less is known about the mechanisms linking individual and area-level socio-economic status to health. In this paper we examine whether health locus of control (HLC) beliefs can help to explain socio-economic differences in self-rated health using the multidimensional HLC scale. Methods. Data for this study come from the Caerphilly Health and Social Needs Survey ( n = 10,892). Multilevel modelling was used to examine the variation in HLC beliefs across different socio-demographic groups and levels of neighbourhood socio-economic status, and to investigate whether HLC beliefs mediate the health effects of individual and neighbourhood socio-economic position. Results. This study found that the HLC scales were significantly associated with individual and neighbourhood socio-economic status, as well as with self-rated health. HLC beliefs appeared to mediate some of the health effects of individual socio-economic status and to a lesser extent the health effects of neighbourhood socio-economic status. Conclusions. Some evidence was found that HLC forms part of the pathway between individual and neighbourhood socio-economic status and health. Future research should further explore the psychological consequences of living in economically deprived conditions, alongside material, social and behavioural processes, and examine how this impacts upon people's health and well-being.

The Modifying Effects of Individual Socioeconomic Status on Mortality Risk Associated with Air Pollution

SM2-PD-05 Introduction: While socioeconomic inequity is a continuous concern in public health, its role in modifying air pollution effects is now a major research interest. We will explore whether individuals with low socioeconomic status (SES) are more susceptible to the acute effects of ambient air pollution than those with high SES. Methods: The study included 24,656 Hong Kong Chinese who died of natural causes at the age of 30 or above in 1998. Information on individual SES as well as lifestyle and physical status was obtained by interviewing the informants via a standardized questionnaire. Based on physical demands in jobs, occupational classes were categorized into 3 groups: blue-collar, jobless, and white-collar. Levels of education were classified into no formal education, primary education, and secondary or higher education. Two types of housing were considered: self-owner and public estate. Poisson regression was performed to assess excess risks per 10 μg/m3 increase of air pollutant (ER) for each SES subgroup. The differences in ER between SES subgroups were estimated by inclusion of interaction terms (ie, indicator of SES times concentration of each air pollutant) in the model for data with all subgroups put together. Case-only logistic regression was used as sensitivity analysis with adjustment for potential confounding by lifestyle and physical status. Results: We found that the effects of air pollution were significantly associated with types of housing, occupational classes, and levels of education. The differences in ER between people living in public estate and those owning private house were 1.63% (95% CI, 0.02%–3.61%) and 1.65% (0.45%–2.84%) for NO2 and PM10, respectively. The highest effects of air pollution were observed in those with primary education among 3 education subgroups, and the differences in ER were significant for NO2, O3, and PM10 (P < 0.05) but not for SO2. ER for all pollutants were significantly greater in blue-collar workers compared with the other 2 occupational classes (P < 0.05). The results changed slightly but in general remained significant and were consistent after adjustment for potential confounders. Discussion and Conclusions: The result provides insight to the role of individuals’ SES in modifying the effects of air pollution on mortality.

Ecological effects in multi-level studies

Multi-level research that attempts to describe ecological effects in themselves (for example, the effect on individual health from living in deprived communities), while also including individual level effects (for example,...

Neighborhood Effects on Family Formation: Concentrated Poverty and Beyond

We use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, in conjunction with decennial census data, to examine the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on young women's risk of premarital childbearing and the timing of their transition to first marriage. Discrete-time event-history models reveal that, among black women, neighborhood disadvantage has little impact on the risk of premarital childbearing, but has a significant nonlinear effect on the probability of marriage prior to first birth. Among white women, as neighborhood disadvantage increases, premarital childbearing rates rise nonlinearly, and marriage rates rise linearly. The nonlinear effects of neighborhood disadvantage on white women's premarital childbearing and black women's first prebirth marriage are generally consistent with arguments regarding the detrimental consequences of concentrated poverty, as opposed to merely high poverty. We find no evidence that the effects of individual socioeconomic status on these dimensions of family formation vary by neighborhood quality. And although white women's estimated rates of premarital childbearing may approach those of blacks in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, socioeconomic differences between the neighborhoods inhabited by black women and white women explain only a modest proportion of the pronounced racial differences in premarital child-bearing and the timing of first marriage.

Neighborhood Effects on Family Formation: Concentrated Poverty and Beyond

We use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, in conjunction with decennial census data, to examine the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage on young women's risk of premarital childbearing and the timing of their transition to first marriage. Discrete-time event-history models reveal that, among black women, neighborhood disadvantage has little impact on the risk of premarital childbearing, but has a significant nonlinear effect on the probability of marriage prior to first birth. Among white women, as neighborhood disadvantage increases, premarital childbearing rates rise nonlinearly, and marriage rates rise linearly. The nonlinear effects of neighborhood disadvantage on white women's premarital childbearing and black women's first prebirth marriage are generally consistent with arguments regarding the detrimental consequences of concentrated poverty, as opposed to merely high poverty. We find no evidence that the effects of individual socioeconomic status on these dimensions of family formation vary by neighborhood quality. And although white women's estimated rates of premarital childbearing may approach those of blacks in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, socioeconomic differences between the neighborhoods inhabited by black women and white women explain only a modest proportion of the pronounced racial differences in premarital childbearing and the timing of first marriage.