Socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and health care access among young and healthy women.

This study examined: (a) the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and health care access among healthy women; (b) which SES variable(s) were most strongly associated with HCA; and (c) whether the SES/HCA relationship was the same for Black and White women. A total of 383 women (57.4% Whites and 42.6% Blacks) participated in the study. Independent variables included family income, education levels, occupation, median income within zip code of participants' residence, and ethnicity. Dependent variables were the total and subscale scores (accessibility, accommodation, and affordability) on a measure of health care access. Family income was the SES variable that showed the strongest positive association with total health care access, and there was a significant interaction between occupation and ethnicity for total health care access. Unique relationships were observed between each SES variable and each subscale on the health care access measure. The overall patterns between SES and health care access were similar for Blacks and Whites. Results suggest that the relationship between health care access and SES should be investigated through a multi-dimensional approach, and that an array of SES variables must be considered when designing interventions to improve health care access among healthy women.