title: Cross race comparisons between SES health gradients among African-American and white women at mid-life.
abstract: This study explored how multiple indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) inform understanding of race differences in the magnitude of health gains associated with higher SES. The study sample, 1268 African-American women and 2066 white women, was drawn from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979. The outcome was the Physical Components Summary from the SF-12 assessed at age 40. Ordinary least squares regressions using education, income and net worth fully interacted with race were conducted. Single measure gradients tended to be steeper for whites than African-Americans, partly because "sheepskin" effects of high school and college graduation were higher for whites and low income and low net worth whites had worse health than comparable African-Americans. Conditioning on multiple measures of SES eliminated race disparities in health benefits of education and net worth, but not income. A discussion of current public policies that affect race disparities in levels of education, income and net wealth is provided.
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Resource Research, 921 Chatham Lane, Suite 200, Ohio State University, 43221, USA. Electronic address: Reagan.3@osu.edu.
authors.forename: Patricia B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Reagan
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Ohio State University, 43221, USA. Electronic address: salsberry.1@ohio-state.edu.
authors.forename: Pamela J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Salsberry
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Health; Race differences; Social gradient; Socioeconomic status; US