Increasing social inequalities in health in the United States and elsewhere, coupled with growing inequalities in income and wealth, have refocused attention on social class as a key determinant of population health. Routine analysis using conceptually coherent and consistent measures of socioeconomic position in US public health research and surveillance, however, remains rare. This review discusses concepts and methodologies concerning, and guidelines for measuring, social class and other aspects of socioeconomic position (e.g. income, poverty, deprivation, wealth, education). These data should be collected at the individual, household, and neighborhood level, to characterize both childhood and adult socioeconomic position; fluctuations in economic resources during these time periods also merit consideration. Guidelines for linking census-based socioeconomic measures and health data are presented, as are recommendations for analyses involving social class, race/ethnicity, and gender. Suggestions for research on socioeconomic measures are provided, to aid monitoring steps toward social equity in health.

Measuring Social Class in US Public Health Research: Concepts, Methodologies, and Guidelines

The National Academy of Sciences through its Institute of Medicine (IOM) has produced a major scholarly assessment of pain in America. This document is a tremendous contribution to the evolving nec...

Relieving pain in america: a blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education, and research

Why do poor people behave poorly? Variation in adult health behaviours and psychosocial characteristics by stages of the socioeconomic lifecourse.

In this article, the authors evaluate the possible roles of negative emotions and cognitions in the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and physical health, focusing on the outcomes of cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality. After reviewing the limited direct evidence, the authors examine indirect evidence showing that (a) SES relates to the targeted health outcomes, (b) SES relates to negative emotions and cognitions, and (c) negative emotions and cognitions relate to the targeted health outcomes. The authors present a general framework for understanding the roles of cognitive-emotional factors, suggesting that low-SES environments are stressful and reduce individuals' reserve capacity to manage stress, thereby increasing vulnerability to negative emotions and cognitions. The article concludes with suggestions for future research to better evaluate the proposed model.

http://psych415.class.uic.edu/Readings/Gallo,%20SES,%20health,%20emotions,%20PsyBull,%202003.pdf

Understanding the association between socioeconomic status and physical health: do negative emotions play a role?

Part I of this paper traced the evolution of modern epidemiology in terms of three eras, each with its dominant paradigm, culminating in the present era of chronic disease epidemiology with its paradigm, the black box. This paper sees the close of the present era and foresees a new era of eco-epidemiology in which the deployment of a different paradigm will be crucial. Here a paradigm is advocated for the emergent era. Encompassing many levels of organization--molecular and societal as well as individual--this paradigm, termed Chinese boxes, aims to integrate more than a single level in design, analysis, and interpretation. Such a paradigm could sustain and refine a public health-oriented epidemiology. But preventing a decline of creative epidemiology in this new era will require more than a cogent scientific paradigm. Attention will have to be paid to the social processes that foster a cohesive and humane discipline.

Choosing a future for epidemiology: II. From black box to Chinese boxes and eco-epidemiology.

Each topical chapter in this volume crystallizes the findings of a five-year study, under the auspices of the Population Health Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, that probed the links between social hierarchy, the "macroenvironmental" factors in illness patterns, the quality of the "microenvironmental," and other determinants of health. In its aggregate, this volume will prove essential to an understanding of the underlying public health issues for the next several decades.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4065215.pdf

Why are some people healthy and others not? : the determinants of health of populations

Composite solar cells of improved efficiency comprise two cells of different characteristics arranged in optical series but electrically insulated from each other. Preferably, each cell is of larger crystal grain size than its substrate, which grain size is achieved by growing the cell semi-conductor on a molten intermediate rheotaxy layer of a suitable semi-conductor which solidifies at a temperature below the melting temperature of the solar cell semi-conductor. The substrate and the intermediate rheotaxy layer of the overlying cell are transparent to that fraction of sunlight which is utilized by the underlying cell. Various configurations of overlying and underlying cells are disclosed.

Theodore R. Marmor

Papers

Why are some people healthy and others not? : the determinants of health of populations

Why Are Some People Healthy and Others Not? The Determinants of Health of Populations

Why Are Some People Healthy and Others Not? The Determinants of Health of Populations

8. The Determinants of a Population's Health: What Can Be Done to Improve a Democratic Nation's Health Status?

¿Por qué alguna gente está sana y otra no?: los determinantes de la salud de las poblaciones