Boen Courtney, Yang Y Claire
Department of Sociology and Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Department of Sociology, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2016 Feb;150:221-30. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.12.029. Epub 2015 Dec 21.
Given documented links between individual socioeconomic status (SES) and health, it is likely that-in addition to its impacts on individuals' wallets and bank accounts-the Great Recession also took a toll on individuals' disease and mortality risk. Exploiting a quasi-natural experiment design, this study utilizes nationally representative, longitudinal data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) (2005-2011) (N = 930) and individual fixed effects models to examine how household-level wealth shocks experienced during the Great Recession relate to changes in biophysiological functioning in older adults. Results indicate that wealth shocks significantly predicted changes in physiological functioning, such that losses in net worth from the pre-to the post-Recession period were associated with increases in systolic blood pressure and C-reactive protein over the six year period. Further, while the association between wealth shocks and changes in blood pressure was unattenuated with the inclusion of other indicators of SES, psychosocial well-being, and health behaviors in analytic models, we document some evidence of mediation in the association between changes in wealth and changes in C-reactive protein, which suggests specificity in the social and biophysiological mechanisms relating wealth shocks and health at older ages. Linking macro-level conditions, meso-level household environments, and micro-level biological processes, this study provides new insights into the mechanisms through which economic inequality contributes to disease and mortality risk in late life.
鉴于个人社会经济地位(SES)与健康之间已被记录的联系,大衰退很可能除了对个人的钱包和银行账户产生影响外,还对个人的疾病和死亡风险造成了损害。本研究采用准自然实验设计,利用来自全国社会生活、健康与老龄化项目(NSHAP)(2005 - 2011年)的具有全国代表性的纵向数据(N = 930)和个体固定效应模型,来检验大衰退期间经历的家庭层面财富冲击与老年人生物生理功能变化之间的关系。结果表明,财富冲击显著预测了生理功能的变化,即从衰退前到衰退后期间净资产的损失与六年内收缩压和C反应蛋白的增加相关。此外,虽然在分析模型中纳入SES、心理社会幸福感和健康行为的其他指标后,财富冲击与血压变化之间的关联并未减弱,但我们记录了一些财富变化与C反应蛋白变化之间关联的中介证据,这表明在老年时将财富冲击与健康联系起来的社会和生物生理机制具有特异性。本研究将宏观层面的状况、中观层面的家庭环境和微观层面的生物过程联系起来,为经济不平等导致晚年疾病和死亡风险的机制提供了新的见解。