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Background: A large literature demonstrates associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and health, including physiological health and well-being. Moreover, gender differences are often observed among measures of both SES and health. However, relationships between SES and health are sometimes questioned given the lack of true experiments, and the potential biological and SES mechanisms explaining gender differences in health are rarely examined simultaneously.Purpose: To use a national sample of twins to investigate lifetime socioeconomic adversity and a measure of physiological dysregulation separately by sex.Methods: Using the twin sample in the second wave of the Midlife in the United States survey (MIDUS II), biometric regression analysis was conducted to determine whether the established SES-physiological health association is observed among twins both before and after adjusting for potential familial-level confounds (additive genetic and shared environmental influences that may underly the SES-health link), and whether this association differs among men and women.Results: Although individuals with less socioeconomic adversity over the lifespan exhibited less physiological dysregulation among this sample of twins, this association only persisted among male twins after adjusting for familial influences.Conclusions: Findings from the present study suggest that, particularly for men, links between socioeconomic adversity and health are not spurious or better explained by additive genetic or early shared environmental influences. Furthermore, gender-specific role demands may create differential associations between SES and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To examine whether neighborhood income and neighborhood safety concerns influence multisystem physiological risk after adjusting for genetic and environmental selection effects that may have biased previous tests of this association. Methods We used structural equation modeling with a genetically informed sample of 686 male and female twin pairs in the Midlife in the United States Study II (2004). Results Controlling for additive genetic and shared environmental processes that may have biased neighborhood–health links in previous examinations, higher neighborhood safety concerns were associated with less physiological risk among women but not men. Discussion Our findings suggest a possible causal role of neighborhood features for a measure of physiological risk that is associated with the development of disease. Efforts to increase neighborhood safety, perhaps through increased street lighting or neighborhood watch programs, may improve community-level health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]