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The article focuses on subjective versus objective measures of economic distress. Topics include socioeconomic disparities are typically measured in terms of objective criteria such as education, income, wealth, and unemployment, and status anxiety may further explain an apparent discordance between objective and subjective measures.

We consider a broad set of variables used by social scientists and clinicians to identify the leading predictors of five-year survival among American adults. We address a question not considered in earlier research: Do the strongest predictors of survival vary by age, sex or race/ethnicity? The analysis uses hazard models with 30 well-established predictors to examine five-year survival in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We find that the simple measure of self-assessed health and self-reported measures of functional ability and disability are the strongest predictors in all demographic groups, and are generally ranked considerably higher than biomarkers. Among the biomarkers, serum albumin is highly ranked in most demographic groups, whereas clinical measures of cardiovascular and metabolic function are consistently among the weakest predictors. Despite these similarities, there is substantial variation in the leading predictors across demographic groups, most notably by race and ethnicity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of biosocial surveys has increased the importance of weighing the costs and benefits of adding biomarker collection to population-based surveys. A crucial question is whether biomarkers offer incremental value beyond self-reported measures, which are easier to collect and impose less respondent burden. We use longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of older Taiwanese (aged 54+ in 2000, examined in 2000 and 2006 with mortality follow-up through 2011) to address that question with respect to predicting all-cause mortality. A summary measure of biomarkers improves mortality prediction (as measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) compared with self-reports alone, but individual biomarkers perform better than the summary score. We find that incorporating change in biomarkers over a six-year period yields a small improvement in mortality prediction compared with one-time measurement. But, is the incremental value worth the costs? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. We investigate socioeconomic disparities in adolescent obesity in Mexico. Three questions are addressed. First, what is the social patterning of obesity among Mexican adolescents? Second, what are the separate and joint associations of maternal and paternal education with adolescent obesity net of household wealth? Third, are there differences in socioeconomic status (SES) gradients among Mexican boys and girls, rural residents and non-rural residents? Methods. Using data from the Mexican National Health Survey 2000 we examined the slope and direction of the association between SES and adolescent obesity. We also estimated models for sub-populations to examine differences in the social gradients in obesity by sex and non-rural residence. Results. We find that household economic status (asset ownership and housing quality) is positively associated with adolescent obesity. High paternal education is related to lower obesity risk, whereas the association between maternal education and obesity is positive, but not always significant. Conclusion. The household wealth components of SES appear to predispose Mexican adolescents to higher obesity risk. The effects of parental education are more complex. These findings have important policy implications in Mexico and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have had a longstanding interest in understanding the determinants of mortality. This article examines the impact of a broad array of biological markers, together with self-reports of physical and mental health status, on the probability of dying for older adults. The estimates are derived from logistic regression models based on data from a national survey in Taiwan. The analysis confirms previous studies demonstrating the effects of clinical measures related to metabolic syndrome on mortality and identifies detrimental effects of neuroendocrine and immune-system markers. The results reveal that biomarkers provide independent explanatory power in the presence of self-reported health measures. The associations between biomarkers and mortality found here provide new avenues for projecting future mortality and elucidating differences in longevity across populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare the association between subjective ladder ranking and health measures with the association between objective indices and health measures in older Taiwanese men and women.Cross-sectional study.A population-representative sample of elderly and nearly elderly men and women in Taiwan.The study included 991 participants from the Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study in Taiwan.The information collected included demographic characteristics; subjective ladder score of SES; objective measures of SES, including education, income, and occupation; health behaviors; health-related variables such as self-rated health, basic activity of daily living difficulties, instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) difficulties, and physical activity difficulties; and depression score.Low ladder score was associated with poorer self-rated health and more reported IADL and physical activity difficulties, even after adjustment for objective measures of SES and other covariates. The multiply adjusted odds ratio for a one-quartile difference in ladder score and worse self-rated health was 1.19 (95% confidence interval=1.06–1.33). The associations between subjective ladder ranking and health status were generally stronger in those who had 6 years or less of education than in those who received more education.A simple subjective assessment of one's ranking on the social hierarchy was associated with self-rated health and physical functional status in an older ethnic Chinese population. The associations were independent of the effects of traditional objective measures of SES, such as education, income, and occupation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the patterns and determinants of four types of support provided by adult children to their parents, with particular attention to differences in the helping behaviors of sons and daughters. The data come from the 1989 wave of the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan. The analysis is based on 12,166 adult children from 2,527 families. We find that usually only one child in a family provides help with activities of daily living (ADLs) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), but for financial or material support the responsibility is likely to be shared among siblings. Sons generally carry the major responsibility for taking care of their older parents, and daughters fulfill the son's roles when sons are not available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relying on data from the 1995 Guatemalan Survey of Family Health (EGSF), we analyse the relationship between child illness and health-seeking behaviour. Information on illness was collected for 3193 children. This analysis is based on 870 of these who became ill with diarrhoeal or respiratory disease during a 13-day period prior to interview. Estimates are derived from logistic models of the probability of seeing any or a specific type of health care provider as a function of characteristics of the illness on a given day and the child. The results indicate that modern medical care plays a major role in the treatment of infectious illness among children in rural Guatemala, with visits to pharmacists, doctors and the staff at government health facilities occurring much more frequently than visits to curers and other traditional practitioners. In general, families are much more likely to seek out a health care provider when a child experiences fever and gastrointestinal symptoms than when suffering from respiratory and other symptoms, and when a mother perceives the illness to be serious. The results also indicate that infants, low parity children, and children assessed as having generally been in good health are more likely to visit health care providers than other children. However, the particular associations often vary by type of health care provider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article evaluates the selection and causal explanations for the mortality patterns of single Japanese. A comparison of mortality patterns by marital status in Japan revealed that levels of mortality experienced by single Japanese have been staggeringly high in comparison with those of married Japanese or of singles elsewhere. The author concludes that it is naive to believe that the excess mortality experienced, by Japanese singles over the past several decades has arisen solely from selection or solely from causal factors. Indeed, as has been concluded by many researchers in the past, it seems likely that both types of explanations have operated together to produce higher mortality among unmarried groups. The findings suggest that the relative importance of the two types of explanations has probably not remained constant over time or across location. An analysis of Japanese marriages--particularly arranged marriages in the middle of the 20th century indicates that the screening out of mentally and physically disabled persons was an important component of the marriage process.