Cundiff Jenny M, Boylan Jennifer Morozink, Pardini Dustin A, Matthews Karen A
Department of Psychological Sciences.
Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado.
Health Psychol. 2017 Jun;36(6):609-617. doi: 10.1037/hea0000473. Epub 2017 Feb 13.
Low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood confers risk for poor physical health later in life. This study prospectively examines whether improvements in family SES protect youth from developing physical health problems by adulthood and whether such effects differ by race or age.
Participants are a school-based sample of urban Black (53%) and White (47%) men (N = 311). Using latent growth curve modeling, we prospectively examined whether changes in family SES measured annually between Ages 7 and 16 predicted physical health diagnoses in adulthood (Age 32). Family SES was assessed as a weighted composite of parental education and occupational status. Physical health diagnoses were assessed as a count of self-reported medical conditions from a health history interview.
Consistent with macroeconomic trends, on average, family SES increased until the early 1990s, then remained flat until rising again in the mid-1990s. During each of 3 independent developmental periods, boys raised in families who experienced more positive changes in SES reported fewer physical health diagnoses in adulthood. These effects did not vary significantly by race and remained after controlling for initial childhood SES, childhood health problems, concurrent adult SES, and weight (Body Mass Index or reported overweight).
Initial childhood SES did not predict physical health, whereas relative improvements in SES over a 10-year period did. If the families of Black and White boys were upwardly mobile, it appeared to protect them from developing physical disease, and upward mobility was additively protective across developmental periods examined here. (PsycINFO Database Record
儿童时期较低的社会经济地位（SES）会增加日后身体健康不佳的风险。本研究前瞻性地考察家庭SES的改善是否能保护青少年在成年前不出现身体健康问题，以及这种影响是否因种族或年龄而异。
参与者是一个以学校为基础的城市黑人（53%）和白人（47%）男性样本（N = 311）。我们使用潜在增长曲线模型，前瞻性地考察7至16岁期间每年测量的家庭SES变化是否能预测成年期（32岁）的身体健康诊断情况。家庭SES被评估为父母教育程度和职业地位的加权综合指标。身体健康诊断情况通过健康史访谈中自我报告的医疗状况计数来评估。
与宏观经济趋势一致，平均而言，家庭SES在20世纪90年代初之前有所上升，然后保持平稳，直到90年代中期再次上升。在三个独立的发育阶段中的每一个阶段，在SES经历更积极变化的家庭中成长的男孩在成年期报告的身体健康诊断较少。这些影响在种族方面没有显著差异，并且在控制了儿童早期的SES、儿童健康问题、同期成年期的SES和体重（体重指数或报告的超重情况）后仍然存在。
儿童早期的SES并不能预测身体健康，而在10年期间SES的相对改善则可以。如果黑人和白人男孩的家庭向上流动，这似乎可以保护他们不患身体疾病，并且向上流动在此处考察的各个发育阶段都具有累加性的保护作用。（PsycINFO数据库记录
