Gold Rachel, Kennedy Bruce, Connell Fred, Kawachi Ichiro
University of Washington, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Department of Epidemiology/Maternal and Child Health Program, USA.
Health Place. 2002 Jun;8(2):77-83. doi: 10.1016/s1353-8292(01)00027-2.
Many studies have demonstrated a relationship between income inequality and poor health, but how does income inequality impact health? One possible explanation is that greater income inequality undermines social capital (social cohesion, civic engagement, and mutual trust in a community). We conducted path analyses of the relationship between income inequality, poverty, and teen birth rate, testing for the mediating effect of social capital in 39 US states. Birth rate was affected by both poverty and income inequality, though income inequality appeared to affect teen birth rate primarily through its impact on social capital.
许多研究都表明了收入不平等与健康状况不佳之间的关系，但收入不平等是如何影响健康的呢？一种可能的解释是，更大程度的收入不平等会破坏社会资本（社会凝聚力、公民参与度以及社区中的相互信任）。我们对美国39个州的收入不平等、贫困与青少年生育率之间的关系进行了路径分析，检验社会资本的中介作用。生育率受到贫困和收入不平等的双重影响，不过收入不平等似乎主要是通过对社会资本的影响来影响青少年生育率。
