Better health reports when the grass is greener on your side of the fence?: a cross-sectional study in older persons.
OBJECTIVE
To study whether the luxury goods make older people feel in better health and whether this association is similar in higher and lower social classes.


METHODS
SMILE consists of a Dutch general population consisting of 2.637 men and women aged 60 years and older in 2007. The SF-36 was used to measure health-related functioning.


RESULTS
In the lower social class, having many luxury goods was related to feeling in better physical (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.39-3.07) and mental health (OR 1.79, 95% CI 1.21-2.64), but not in the higher social class.


CONCLUSIONS
There might be a health benefit of keeping up appearances, snobbism, and "conspicuous consumption" in older people from lower social classes.
Bosma
Hans
H
Department of Social Medicine, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. hans.bosma@socmed.unimaas.nl
Groffen
Daniëlle
D
van den Akker
Marjan
M
Kempen
Gertrudis I J M
GI
van Eijk
Jacques Th M
JT
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors