Robert S A
RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research Program, School of Public Health, University of California-Berkeley 94720-7360, USA.
J Health Soc Behav. 1998 Mar;39(1):18-37.
Do the socioeconomic characteristics of a community affect one's health? This research examines whether the socioeconomic characteristics of communities are associated with the health of community residents, over and above the socio-economic characteristics of individual residents and their families. This is the first study to examine the independent associations between community-level socio-economic status (SES) and individual-level health using a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States. Results indicate that a person's health is associated with SES characteristics of the community over and above one's own income, education, and assets. However, individual-level and family-level SES indicators are stronger predictors of health than community-level SES indicators. This research suggests that improving individual-level and family-level socioeconomic circumstances may be the more direct way to improve the health of individuals, but that understanding the community context in which a person lives may also ultimately be important to improving health.
社区的社会经济特征会影响一个人的健康吗？本研究探讨社区的社会经济特征是否与社区居民的健康相关，这超出了个体居民及其家庭的社会经济特征范畴。这是第一项利用美国成年人全国代表性样本，研究社区层面社会经济地位（SES）与个体层面健康之间独立关联的研究。结果表明，一个人的健康与社区的SES特征相关，这超出了其自身收入、教育和资产的影响。然而，个体层面和家庭层面的SES指标比社区层面的SES指标更能有力地预测健康状况。本研究表明，改善个体层面和家庭层面的社会经济状况可能是改善个人健康的更直接途径，但了解一个人生活的社区背景最终可能对改善健康也很重要。
