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Understanding the mechanisms underlying the association between lower socioeconomic status (SES) and Intimate Partner Aggression (IPA) is necessary for decreasing risk for IPA among lower-SES individuals. As limited control over one's external environment impacts individuals' ability to internally control their emotional states, the present study examined impulsivity and anger as serial mediators in the association from SES to IPA perpetration. Structural equation modeling analyses (N = 430 men, Mage = 24.66, 66.8% White) showed direct effects from lower SES to higher physical and sexual IPA. Additionally, there was a marginally significant indirect effect from SES to psychological IPA via higher impulsivity and anger. These findings may inform the development of interventions, showing that self-regulatory skills training may help lower psychological aggression. To address physical and sexual IPA, efforts that directly target the detriments of lower SES - via financial, housing, or educational support programs - may be indicated., Author(s): Julia Friederike Hammett [sup.1] [sup.2] , Kelly Cue Davis [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/03efmqc40, grid.215654.1, 0000 0001 2151 2636, Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University, [...]

The association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and the suspected autism spectrum disorder (ASD) status of 18-month-old toddlers was investigated using a population-based sample in Japan, which has a universal healthcare system and a mandatory health checkup system for toddlers. Questionnaires including SES measurements and modified checklist for autism in toddlers were mailed to all families with 18-month-old toddlers in Chiba, a city near Tokyo (N = 6,061; response rate: 64%). The results of logistic regression analysis (which were adjusted for potential confounders) indicated that low maternal education, but not paternal education or family income, were associated with having suspected ASD offspring. Lower maternal education was associated with an increased risk of autistic traits in Japan. Keywords Autism * Autism spectrum disorders * Epidemiology * Health care system * Socioeconomic status, Introduction Most of previous studies from the United States have reported a positive association between high family socioeconomic status (SES) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children (Bhasin and Schendel [...]

ABSTRACT Since the turn of the century contemporary dance has been gaining momentum as a pan-African artistic movement in which a new generation of performers is engaging. In contrast to [...]

The present study investigates the relationship between socioeconomic status, home environment, and amount of childcare on language of three-, four-, and five-year-old children. This study also develops a parental report measure of home environment. Results confirm the positive relationship between language and socioeconomic status. Findings on the positive relationship between language and home environment, as measured with the new Home Environment Questionnaire, are consistent with previous research using exhaustive observational and interview measures. Furthermore, results show hours per week of childcare are not related to language after controlling for socioeconomic status and home environment. This study confirms validity of the new Home Environment Questionnaire offering an alternative to measuring home environment which may suit a wider range of study circumstances. This new tool will allow researchers to better understand the positive and negative influences on children's development. Keywords Language development * Home environment * Socioeconomic status * Childcare, Early language development has profound effects on children's cognitive achievement prior to school entry and throughout their school years (Bradley and Corwyn 2002; Downer and Pianta 2006; Geoffroy et al. [...]

Two competing predictions about the effect of status on performance appear in the organizational theory and sociological literatures. On one hand, various researchers have asserted that status improves performance. This [...]

'Bonjour!' The young man smiled full in my face as I moved toward the water. 'Bonjour.' I vaguely grinned back, sunspots bouncing off my retina. I waved to my daughter, [...]

The study examines the housing preferences of elderly people in Spain and findings show that people, as they grow older, increasingly prefer to 'age in place.' Less affluent and disabled elderly prefer to 'age in place' and stay with relatives, while affluent ones prefer care centers. Implications for housing initiatives are also discussed.

The growing body of research on discrimination and health indicates a deleterious effect of discrimination on various health outcomes. However, less is known about the sociodemographic correlates of reporting racial discrimination and gender discrimination among racially diverse women. We examined the associations of social status characteristics with lifetime experiences of racial discrimination and gender discrimination using a racially-diverse sample of 754 women attending family planning clinics in North California (11.4% African American, 16.8% Latina, 10.1% Asian and 61.7% Caucasian). A multivariate analysis revealed that race, financial difficulty and marital status were significantly correlated with higher reports of racial discrimination, while race, education, financial difficulty and nativity were significantly correlated with gender discrimination scores. Our findings suggest that the social patterning of perceiving racial discrimination is somewhat different from that of gender discrimination. This has implications in the realm of discrimination research and applied interventions, as different forms of discrimination may have unique covariates that should be accounted for in research analysis or program design. KEYWORDS gender discrimination, racial discrimination, social correlates, discrimination

This study examined the self-concept and social status of accelerated and nonaccelerated students in their first 2 years of secondary school in the Netherlands. In 357 students from 18 secondary schools, we measured self-concept, sociometric status, and behavior reputations at three times. Accelerated students had more positive self-concepts concerning school in general and mathematics than nonaccelerated students, but a less positive social self-concept. In girls but not in boys, the difference in social self-concept of accelerated and nonaccelerated students was no longer present at the end of the 2nd year. Accelerated students had a lower social status than nonaccelerants and were considered to be less cooperative, humorous, helpful, leading, and social, peer ratings were more negative for accelerated boys than for accelerated girls. Implications for the education of accelerated students, including the social emotional development of accelerated students in their 1 st years of secondary school, are discussed. Putting the Research to Use: In this study, we found that accelerated students have a more positive academic self-concept than their nonaccelerated classmates. We also found, however, indications that accelerated students, especially boys, in their first two years in secondary school (Grades 7 and 8 in the U.S. secondary educational system), have a more negative social status than their classmates. Many empirical studies and practitioners' experiences with gifted students point at the benefits of acceleration and the negative consequences of not accelerating a child. So, to abolish acceleration is not a realistic option. We should, however, take into account that accelerated students might have a more negative social status than their classmates. Knowledgeable teachers, with a positive attitude toward accelerated students, should be alert about possible prejudices of classmates and should aim for an accepting, tolerating climate in the classroom. Keywords: self-concept; social status; academic acceleration; secondary school

In this study, the authors examined the relations of Indonesian adolescents' socioemotional functioning to their majority--minority status and the presence of cross-religion friendships and whether sex moderated these relations. At Time 1, 1,254 7th graders and their peers in Bandung, Indonesia, reported on their friendships, prosocial behavior, and peer likability; months later, a selected sample of 250 youths and their teachers and parents rated the youths' social functioning and (mal)adjustment. When controlling for socioeconomic status and initial sociometric status, girls were generally higher in measures of adjustment, whereas majority children were lower in externalizing problems and, for boys, loneliness. For minority children's social competence and prosocial behavior at school, there was evidence of a buffering effect of having a cross-religion friend. Keywords: Indonesian adolescents' socioemotional functioning and adjustment, majority--minority status, cross-religion friendships

In this study, the authors investigated the degree to which a family investment model would help account for the association between family of origin socioeconomic characteristics and the later educational attainment of 451 young adults (age 26) from 2-parent families. Parents' educational level, occupational prestige, and family income in 1989 each had a statistically significant direct relationship with youths' educational attainment in 2002. Consistent with the theoretical model guiding the study, parents' educational level and family income also demonstrated statistically significant indirect effects on later educational attainment through their associations with growth trajectories for supportive parenting, sibling relations, and adolescent academic engagement. Supportive parenting and sibling relations were linked to later educational attainment through their association with adolescent academic engagement. Academic engagement during adolescence was associated with educational attainment in young adulthood. These basic processes operated similarly regardless of youths' gender, target youths' age relative to a near-age sibling, gender composition of the sibling dyad, or gender of parent. Keywords: educational attainment, academic engagement, parenting, sibling relations, SES

In many societies, foods are preferentially channeled to certain members of the household. We studied whether being the child of a powerful household member (head of household or first wife in a polygynous family) was associated with greater child stature in Northern Ghana and how this association varied with differences in household food availability. We used a sample of 464 children between 9 and 36 mo of age in extended households in rural Northern Ghana. Child stature was regressed on household food availability, the status of the child's father (head of household or other male), the status of the child's mother (marital order in a polygynous marriage), and the interaction terms between household food availability and parental status. The models were controlled for child age, sex, maternal height, parity, household size, and potential intra-community clustering. Household dietary diversity was associated with child stature (P < 0.05), but this association was limited to children of the head of household. For children of other males, there was no quantifiable association between household dietary diversity and child stature. Children of monogamous mothers were taller than children of second wives (P < 0.05). Our findings show that studies of intra-household allocation need to investigate beyond gender differences. Other structural household factors need to be considered in designing interventions, because they affect impact and even lead to increased intra-household inequality. Our results are relevant for Northern Ghana and as well as for similar settings elsewhere in the world.

The transition from defined-benefit to defined-contribution occupational-pension plans has placed a premium on the participants' or contributors' decision-making competence. Their attitudes to risk and their responses to available investment options can have far-reaching implications for their retirement income. Behavioural research on risk and uncertainty has raised understanding of the limits of individual decision-making, but the social status and demographic characteristics of plan participants may also affect risk perception and pension choices. By studying a random sample of the British adult population, this paper explores the significance of socio-demographic characteristics for pension-related risk attitudes. It is demonstrated that pension-plan participants do not appear to understand the risks associated with different types of retirement savings and pension plans. The paper also shows that the gender, age and income of plan participants can give rise to distinctive risk propensities, and that marital status and, in particular, whether a spouse also has a pension can also have significant consequences for household risk preferences. These results have implications for those segments of the population that are disadvantaged in the labour market. Employer-provided pensions' education and information programmes may have to be more basic and more closely tailored to the social status of pension plan participants than hitherto assumed or hoped. KEY WORDS--Gender, pension risk, socio-demographic status, spousal entitlements.

Attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV) were compared between Zambian and Kenyan men on sociodemographic, attitudinal, and structural predictors of such attitudes. Data were retrieved from the latest Demographic and Health Surveys in each country. The results showed that many men in Zambia (71%) and Kenya (68%) justified IPV to punish a woman for transgression from normative domestic roles. In priority order, sociodemographic, autonomy, and access-to-information indicators predicted attitudes toward IPV in both countries. Whereas in Kenya, education reduced the likelihood of justifying IPV, the reverse was observed in Zambia. Access to information reduced the likelihood of justifying IPV among men in Zambia but not in Kenya. Men's positive attitudes toward women's autonomy reduced the likelihood of justifying IPV in Kenya but not in Zambia. Differences in specific predictors between the countries demonstrate the significance of capitalizing on need-adapted interventions tailored to fit conditions in each country. Keywords: attitudes toward violence; men; predictors; Zambia; Kenya

In the class room a hierarchical structure of social relations typically develops in which the child's position is a marker of the view of the others, i.e. the extent to which he or she is an accepted and valued member of the group. The status distribution in the school class is likely to correspond to differences in personal characteristics, including behaviours and competencies, and to generate a differential distribution of perceived expectations, treatment, resources and emotions. We argue that these phenomena constitute parts in a developmental process which, through mediators such as self-view and subsequent life choices, may affect adult health. The purpose of this paper is to study whether and how peer status is associated with self-reported health in mid-life. Data was derived from a cohort study of individuals born in Aberdeen, Scotland, between 1950 and 1956. We use information about childhood circumstances, including peer status nominations, collected in the early 1960s, and information about adult circumstances derived from a postal questionnaire carried out among more than 6000 individuals in 2001-2003. Multivariate analyses yielded a graded association between peer status and adult health problems in the form of limiting longstanding illness and less than good self-rated health. These associations could not be explained by socioeconomic circumstances or differences in individual behaviour and cognitive score in childhood. It was rather subsequent socioeconomic career that seemed to explain the association found among men. For women, a significant association remained, suggesting alternative pathways or mechanisms. Keywords: Aberdeen Children of the 1950's study; Peer status; Middle childhood; Adult health; Life course; Health inequality; UK

We examined whether perceived social position predicted mental and physical health outcomes (depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, mobility restrictions, and self-assessed health) in a prospective study based on a nationally representative sample of older persons in Taiwan. Cross-sectional and longitudinal models were used to demonstrate the relationship between perceived social position and health, as reported by participants in the Social Environment and Biomarkers of Aging Study in Taiwan (SEBAS). Lower perceived social position predicted declining health beyond what was accounted for by objective indicators of socioeconomic position. As predicted, the effect was substantially reduced for all health outcomes in the presence of controls for baseline health. After including these controls, perceived social position was significantly related only to depressive symptoms. The findings suggest that the strength of the association between perceived social position and health may have been overstated in cross-sectional studies. Keywords: Taiwan; Perceived social position; Older adults; Mental health; Physical health

In the United States, 17% of children and adolescents are overweight and 20% live in a food insecure household. Previous studies examining the association between household food insecurity and overweight among children have been inconclusive but are limited insofar as they did not assess child-specific measures of food insecurity and overweight. In response, this study examined the association between food insecurity and child overweight status when these variables were measured for the same child using information on children (n = 1031) aged 10-15 y from the Three-City Study. Approximately 8% of the children were food insecure, whereas 50% were either at risk of overweight or overweight. Bivariate analyses indicated that there were no significant differences in the prevalence of at risk of overweight and overweight between food secure and food insecure children. Gender, race, and income showed similar patterns. Results from logistic regression analyses also indicated that the likelihood of being overweight or at risk of overweight was not significantly different for food secure and food insecure children. Although child-specific food insecurity was not associated with overweight in this sample of low-income children, food insecurity and overweight coexist among these low-income children, because ~25% of the food insecure children were overweight. Additional research is needed to explore the potential relationships between food insecurity and overweight and to better inform policy that attempts to address these issues among low-income households with children.

Increasingly, measures of dietary patterns have been used to capture the complex nature of dietary intake and investigate its association with health. Certain dietary patterns may be important in the prevention of chronic disease; however, there are few investigations in adolescents. The aim of this study was to describe the dietary patterns of adolescents and their associations with sociodemographic factors, nutrient intakes, and behavioral and health outcomes. Analysis was conducted using data collected in the 1995 Australian National Nutrition Survey of participants aged 12-18 y who completed a 108-item FFQ (n = 764). Dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis and associations with sociodemographic factors and behavioral and health outcomes investigated. Factor analysis revealed 3 dietary patterns labeled a fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern; a high fat and sugar pattern; and a vegetables pattern, which explained 11.9, 5.9, and 3.9% of the variation in food intakes, respectively. The high fat and sugar pattern was positively associated with being male (P < 0.001), the vegetables pattern was positively associated with rural region of residence (P = 0.004), and the fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern was inversely associated with age (P = 0.03). Dietary patterns were not associated with socioeconomic indicators. The fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern was inversely associated with diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.0025) after adjustment for age, sex, and physical activity in adolescents [greater than or equal to] 16 y. This study suggests that specific dietary patterns are already evident in adolescence and a dietary pattern rich in fruit, salad, cereals, and fish pattern may be associated with diastolic blood pressure in older adolescents.

This research explored the relationships between race/ethnicity and area factors affecting access to health care in the United States. The study represents an advance on previous research in this field because, in addition to including data on rurality, it incorporates additional contextual covariates describing aspects of health care accessibility. Individual-level data were obtained from the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The county of residence reported by BRFSS respondents was used to link BRFSS data with county-level measures of health care access from the 2004 Area Resource File (ARF). Analyses of mammography were limited to women aged [greater than or equal to] 40 years with known county of residence (n = 91,492). Analyses of Pap testing were limited to women aged [greater than or equal to] 18 years with no history of hysterectomy and known county of residence (n = 97,820). In addition to individual-level covariates such as race, Hispanic ethnicity, health insurance coverage and routine physical exam in the previous year. We examined county-level covariates (residence in health professional shortage area, urban/rural continuum, racial/ethnic composition, and number of health centers/clinics, mammography screening centers, primary care physicians, and obstetrician-gynecologists per 100,000 female population or per 1000 square miles) as predictors of cancer screening. Both individual-level and contextual covariates are associated with the use of breast and cervical cancer screening. In the current study, covariates associated with health care access, such as health insurance coverage, household income, Black race, and percentage of county female population who were non-Hispanic Black, were important determinants of screening use. In multivariate analysis, we found significant interactions between individual-level covariates and contextual covariates. Among women who reside in areas with lower primary care physician supply, rural women are less likely than urban women to have had a recent Pap test. Black women were more likely than White women to have had a recent Pap test. Women with a non-rural county of residence were more likely to have had a recent mammogram than rural women. A significant interaction was also found between individual-level race and number of health centers or clinics per 100,000 population (p-value = 0.0187). In counties with 2 or more health centers or clinics per 100,000 female population, Black women were more likely than White women to have had a recent mammogram. A significant interaction was also observed between the percentage of county female population who were Hispanic and the percentage who were non-Hispanic Black. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: Breast cancer; Cervical cancer; Health care access; Socioeconomic status; Women's health

Individuals engage in status self-enhancement when they form an overly positive perception of their status in a group. We argue that status self-enhancement incurs social costs and, therefore, most individuals perceive their status accurately. In contrast, theories of positive illusions suggest status self-enhancement is beneficial for the individual and that most individuals overestimate their status. We found supportive evidence for our hypotheses in a social relations analysis of laboratory groups, an experiment that manipulated status self-enhancement, and a study of real-world groups. Individuals who engaged in status self-enhancement were liked less by others and paid less for their work. Moreover, individuals tended to perceive their status highly accurately. Mediation analyses showed that status self-enhancers were socially punished because they were seen as disruptive to group processes. Keywords: status; hierarchy; self-perception; self-enhancement; positive illusions

The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the motor coordination' of Brazilian schoolchildren of different socioeconomic status in their first year of primary education. Factors associated with inadequate fine motor skills were identified. A total of 238 schoolchildren, 118 from a public school and 120 from a private school, were evaluated on fine motor skills using the Evolutional Neurological Examination. Statistical analysis was performed using univariate logistic regression followed by multivariate analysis. Children attending public school had a 5.5-fold greater risk of having inadequate fine motor skills for their age compared to children attending private school, while children who started school after four years of age had a 2.8fold greater risk of having inadequate motor coordination compared to children who began school earlier. Data for this sample suggest socioeconomic factors and later entry of children to school may be associated with their fine motor skills.

In this paper, we present evidence which suggests that key processes of social status differentiation, affecting health and numerous other social outcomes, take place at the societal level. Understanding them seems likely to involve analyses and comparisons of whole societies. Using income inequality as an indicator and determinant of the scale of socioeconomic stratification in a society, we show that many problems associated with relative deprivation are more prevalent in more unequal societies. We summarise previously published evidence suggesting that this may be true of morbidity and mortality, obesity, teenage birth rates, mental illness, homicide, low trust, low social capital, hostility, and racism. To these we add new analyses which suggest that this is also true of poor educational performance among school children, the proportion of the population imprisoned, drug overdose mortality and low social mobility. That ill health and a wide range of other social problems associated with social status within societies are also more common in more unequal societies, may imply that income inequality is central to the creation of the apparently deep-seated social problems associated with poverty, relative deprivation or low social status. We suggest that the degree of material inequality in a society may not only be central to the social forces involved in national patterns of social stratification, but also that many of the problems related to low social status may be amenable to changes in income distribution. If the prevalence of these problems varies so much from society to society according to differences in income distribution, it suggests that the familiar social gradients in health and other outcomes are unlikely to result from social mobility sorting people merely by prior characteristics. Instead, the picture suggests that their frequency in a population is affected by the scale of social stratification that differs substantially from one society to another. Keywords: Income inequality; Socioeconomic status; Health; Education; Relative deprivation; Prisons

We examined the association between parenting young children and smoking among US single women compared with married women, and whether this effect is moderated by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. Our main finding is that having children reduces smoking except among single white women, and women with low income. We used the Tobacco Use Supplement of the Current Population Survey, a nationally representative dataset (1995-96, n = 70,019). Logbinomial regression analysis was used to estimate the association between parenting responsibility (i.e., presence of children aged 0-4 and 5-17) and daily smoking status, after taking into consideration marital status, income, and race/ ethnicity. Single women faced a higher risk of smoking than married women. Parenting was protective against smoking among married women but not among single women. Additionally, among single women, the associations between parenting and smoking varied by income and race/ethnicity. Parenting increased the risk of smoking among single women in the lowest income quartile. Single black and Hispanic women with children had a risk of smoking similar to that of their childless counterparts. However, single white women with children were more likely to smoke than their childless counterparts. Smoking cessation interventions and programs to reduce environmental tobacco smoke should recognize that the co-occurrence of single motherhood, parenting responsibility and low-income may increase the risk of smoking. This is particularly significant given the rapid growth of the single women population, and their concentration in poverty in the USA. The finding that parenting is protective against smoking among single minority women, who presumably experience significant stressors, calls for a more thorough investigation of smoking behavior among minority women, and suggests the importance of stress buffers such as social support. Keywords: Smoking; Single mother; Parenting responsibility; Race/ethnicity; Income; USA; Socioeconomic status (SES)

Social status impacts reproductive behavior in diverse vertebrate species, but little is known about how it affects brain morphology. We explore this in the naked mole-rat, a species with the most rigidly organized reproductive hierarchy among mammals. Naked mole-rats live in large, subterranean colonies where breeding is restricted to a single female and small number of males. All other members of the colony, known as subordinates, are reproductively suppressed. Subordinates can become breeders if removed from the colony and placed with an opposite sex partner, but in nature most individuals never attain reproductive status. We examined the brains of breeding and subordinate naked mole-rats of both sexes, including several regions linked to reproduction and shown to be sexually dimorphic in other mammals. Stereological analyses revealed that neural morphology depends on status, such that breeders, regardless of sex, had more cells than subordinates in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus and a larger volume of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, paraventricular nucleus, and medial amygdala. Several other brain regions examined were unaffected. Surprisingly, males and females did not differ on any measure. These findings provide evidence that a change in social status triggers considerable neural remodeling and indicate that status, rather than sex, has a predominant role in determining neural structure in this remarkably social mammal. eusociality | neuroplasticity | reproductive strategy | sex difference | social status

Social and educational statuses that influence the information processing capacity have significant effect on the newspaper preference. The class of an individual has only limited effect on the newspaper readership according to the authors.

The causes of gender differences in nonverbal behavior are not well understood. The present article discusses status as a possible explanation and analyzes some of the methodological and conceptual challenges associated with testing that hypothesis. The study by Helweg-Larsen, Cunningham, Carrico, and Pergram (2004), which investigated gender in relation to nodding toward peers versus professors in college classes, is highlighted to demonstrate some of the difficulties facing researchers when testing the status explanation.

Quality perceptions by customers and effects of social status on these perceptions are evaluated.

This study investigates the influence of social status on attributions of blame in specific instances of hate crime. Two theoretical explanations for the impact of offender's and victim's social status characteristics on evaluations of hate crimes are examined. The stigma perspective suggests that the public will deride minority-status individuals, whereas the sympathy perspective implies that the public will be sympathetic to members of minorities. Results from a factorial survey reveal mixed support for both perspectives, depending on the victim's status (race, gender, or sexual orientation). Respondents appear especially sensitive to racial status asymmetry, blaming white offenders more than black offenders and black victims less than white victims, but sympathy is not evident for gay and lesbian victims. Results also suggest that gay and lesbian victims are held more accountable for their actions than heterosexual victims and that respondent's attitudes shape attributions of blame.

Objectives. We focus on a hypothesized mechanism that may underlie the well-documented link between social status and health behavioral health risks. Methods. We use longitudinal data from representative samples of 6,106 middle-aged and 3,636 older adults from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the relationships between social status including early life social status (e.g., parental schooling), ascribed social status (e.g., sex, race-ethnicity), and achieved social status (e.g., schooling, economic resources)--and behavioral health risks (e.g., weight, smoking, drinking, physical activity) to (1) assess how early life and ascribed social statuses are linked to behavioral health risks, (2) investigate the role of achieved factors in behavioral health risks, (3) test whether achieved status explains the contributions of early life and ascribed status, and (4) examine whether the social status and health risk relationships differ at midlife and older age. Results. We find that early life, achieved, and ascribed social statuses strongly predict behavioral health risks, although the effects are stronger in midlife than they are in older age. Discussion. Ascribed social statuses (and interactions of sex and race-ethnicity), which are important predictors of behavioral health risks even net of early life and achieved social status, should be explored in future research.

Background. The association between low socioeconomic status and poor physical functioning has been well described; biomedical factors may play an important role in explaining these differences. This study examines the association between socioeconomic status and incident mobility limitation in well-functioning older adults, and seeks to determine whether this link could be explained by biomedical factors. Methods. Data were obtained from 3066 men and women, aged 70-79 years from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Memphis, Tennessee participating in the Health; Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) study. Three indicators of socioeconomic status were used: education, income, and ownership of financial assets. Mobility limitation was defined as reporting difficulty walking 1/4 mile or climbing 10 steps during two consecutive semiannual assessments over 4.5 years. Biomedical factors included a wide range of diseases (e.g., heart and cerebrovascular disease) and biological risk factors (e.g. hypertension, poor pulmonary function, and high serum levels of inflammatory markers). Results. Adjusted hazard ratios of incident mobility limitation were significantly higher in those persons with low education, low income, and few assets. Hazard ratios ranged from 1.66 to 2.80 in the lowest socioeconomic groups. Additional adjustment for biomedical factors reduced the hazard ratios by an average of 41% for education, 17% for income, and 29% for assets. Conclusion. Biomedical factors can account for some of the association between socioeconomic status and incident mobility limitation. However, to reduce physical disabilities and, in particular, the socioeconomic differences therein, it may not be sufficient to solely intervene upon biological risk factors and risks of diseases.

We look at whether women's status and autonomy affect birth-to-conception intervals using data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) in the Philippines. We followed 1123 married, fecund women, aged 25-49, for up to 5 years. In a 1994-1995 survey, women were asked about the timing of their last birth. In 1998-2000, women were asked about any pregnancies since the 1994-1995 survey. Using these two surveys, we calculated birth to conception intervals. Women were censored if they reached their 50th birthday during follow-up. We measure autonomy based on whether the wife has the final say in 10 household decisions as measured in the 1994-1995 survey. Using Cox proportional hazards models we find that women with more decision-making autonomy have significantly longer birth-to-conception intervals in unadjusted models. After adjustment for age, wealth, education, other socio-economic variables, and women's status, decision-making autonomy remained a significant predictor in all models. This effect remains even after adjusting for contraceptive use, implying that autonomy influences birth-toconception intervals through other mechanisms above and beyond increased contraceptive use. Additionally, few of the women's status variables were significantly associated with time to next conception. Women who had their first birth later in life were more likely to conceive during the observation period suggesting that they may be having shorter birth intervals in order to 'catch up' with their peers. Maternal and child health-care efforts can help women achieve their desired spacing goals by supporting women's autonomy--in addition to ensuring they have accurate information and a range of contraceptive options. Keywords: Birth spacing; Birth intervals; Women's autonomy; Women's status; Philippines; Gender

Racial health inequality is related to socioeconomic status (SES), but debate ensues on the nature of the relationship. Using the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I and the subsequent follow-up interviews, this research examines health disparities between white and black adults and whether the SES/health gradient differs across the two groups in the USA. Two competing mechanisms for the conditional or interactive relationship between race and SES on health are examined during a 20-year period for black and white Americans. Results show that black adults began the study with more serious illnesses and poorer self-rated health than white adults and that the disparity continued over the 20 years. Significant interactions were found between race and education as well as race and employment status on health outcomes. The interaction effect of race and education showed that the racial disparity in self-rated health was largest at the higher levels of SES, providing some evidence for the 'diminishing returns' hypothesis; as education levels increased, black adults did not have the same improvement in self-rated health as white adults. Overall, the findings provide evidence for the continuing significance of both race and SES in determining health status over time. Keywords: Race; Socioeconomic status; Health; Disparities in health; USA

In the face of mounting concern at traffic congestion in the vicinity of schools and the associated risks of child pedestrian injury, the 'walking school bus' (WSB) idea has been rapidly adopted within metropolitan Auckland. WSBs involve volunteers guiding children to and from school in an orderly manner following established walking routes. This paper reports on a survey of the 34 Auckland primary schools which had adopted the scheme by November 2002. Despite rates of child pedestrian injury being highest in areas of socio-economic deprivation, our survey found WSB developments highly concentrated in low deprivation neighbourhoods. The inequitable socio-spatial distribution of WSBs in Auckland suggests that the ability to respond to road safety issues is closely correlated with socio-economic privilege. While our respondents identified a number of individual and community health benefits accruing from WSBs, we conclude that the initiative has a limited ability to address public health challenges originating within an inequitable and car-dominated urban political system. Keywords: New Zealand; 'Walking School Bus'; Neighbourhood; Socio-economic status

Research is presented that examined the impact of social efficacy on the relationship between vocational efficacy beliefs and various job performance dimensions as well as career satisfaction. Results indicated respondents [...]

The independent association of socio-economic position with self-reported disability was assessed. The effect of home and car ownership as additional indices of socio-economic position within occupational social classes was explored. Data from a prospective study of a cohort of 7735 men aged 40-59 years at recruitment and representative of the occupational social class distribution of middle-aged men in Great Britain were used. Men were selected from one general practice in each of 24 towns in England, Wales and Scotland in 1978-1980. The present study concerns 5773 (88.4% of those able to take part) men aged 52-73 years at follow up in 1992 who completed the disability section of a postal questionnaire. A quarter (1453) of men reported disability. Socio-economic position measured as both occupational class (social class I vs. V: age-adjusted OR 5.0, 95% CI 3.4-7.5) and ownership of home and car (both vs. neither: age-adjusted OR 2.8, 95% CI 2.3-3.4) showed a graded relationship with likelihood of reporting disability in 1992. Within all social class groups, those owning both home and car had a lower risk of disability than those who owned neither, even after adjustment for a wide range of risk factors. Men from manual occupations were more likely than those in non-manual occupations to report disability on developing chronic diseases. The relationship between socio-economic position and severe, but not milder, disability appeared to be independent of disease status. Socioeconomic position is a strong predictor of disability in later life independent of a wide range of lifestyle factors and presence of diagnosed disease. The likelihood of reporting disability between and within social class groups is influenced by material wealth. Keywords: Disability; Cohort; Social class; Socio-economic position

Problems that are faced in obtaining tough scientific deductions regarding socio-economic relationship to health are examined. Plans for further effort in the research are recommended.

Modernist architects introduced the rational kitchen to Belgium from 1930 onwards. The influence of the CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne/International Congresses of Modern Architecture) discourse on the rational minimum dwelling [...]

Prior research has shown that women report mostly negative expectations about being a gender-token in male-dominated work groups. We speculate that this is partially caused by the socially ascribed status devaluation of women. In this study we investigated the degree to which elevated social status may lessen negative expectations of gender-token women assigned to leadership positions. Sixty-three undergraduate women participated in 1 of 3 tokenism conditions: (1) nontoken, (2) gender-token, and (3) high-status gender-token. In all conditions participants were led to believe that they would be leading a group of men in a decision-making exercise. Leader expectations were then assessed. The results suggest that increased social status may help prevent gender-token women from developing negative expectations about interactions with male-dominated work groups. KEY WORDS: gender; status; tokenism; leadership.

Socioeconomic factors are less important than an adolescent's assessment of their family's place in society. Socioeconomic factors are less important than an adolescent's assessment of their family's place in society., Author Affiliations: Young people who think their families are high status tend to have better mental health than teens with a more modest perception of their families. Credit: Getty Group [...]

The paper addresses several debates surrounding the reproduction of socio-economic inequality: (i) the persistent inequality thesis, which maintains that despite the increases in educational participation socio-economic inequalities in education have not declined; (ii) the related thesis of maximally maintained inequality, which proposes that socio-economic inequalities decline only when participation levels for the most privileged socio-economic group approach saturation levels; (iii) the meritocracy debate on the importance of ability vis-a-vis socio-economic background and changes in its influence over time; and (iv) the effect of policy changes on socio-economic inequalities in education. These issues are addressed using data from six Australian youth cohorts born between 1961 and the mid-1980s. KEYWORDS: Socio-economic background; educational participation; persistent inequality; trends; maximally maintained inequality thesis; higher education

Summary. Can socioeconomic factors seemingly explain variation in suicide rates at large-unit aggregate levels only due to an ecological fallacy? This is what Kunce and Anderson (2002) suggest based on fixed-effects estimation of US state suicide rates, in which they find little evidence that socioeconomic factors matter. This paper demonstrates that this result does not hold true for other large-unit aggregate levels in an analysis of suicide at the cross-national level. It is found that many socioeconomic factors have a statistically significant impact. It is concluded that sociological and economic theories explaining variation in suicide rates at the large-unit aggregate level with the help of aggregate socioeconomic factors cannot simply be dismissed because of an alleged ecological fallacy.

Several recent articles have pointed to the effect of social context on heart disease mortality alter adjusting for individual level indicators. This study investigates the contributions of individual socioeconomic factors (sex, race, and education) and social context at the neighborhood level (wealth, education, social capital, and racial/ethnic composition), and the county level (social inequality, human and social capital, economic and demographic characteristics) on premature cardiovascular mortality. Death certificate information was obtained for all those who died of heart disease in Texas, USA, in 1991. Deaths were geocoded to obtain block-group, census tract, and county social context from the census. Multilevel hierarchical models quantified the contributions of individual characteristics and block-group, tract, and county social context on years of potential life lost to heart disease. Cross-level analyses investigated the interaction between individual and contextual factors. Being female, having more education, and residing in areas with higher median house value were associated with less premature mortality. Although blacks and Hispanics lost more years of life to heart disease than whites, blacks and Hispanics living in tracts with higher own racial/ethnic group density lost fewer years of life than their peers living in less homogenous tracts. At the county level, premature mortality was negatively associated with social capital. The tract and county level variances were statistically significant indicating the importance of social context to premature heart disease mortality. Plausible mechanisms through which these effects operate are explored. Social context at the block-group, tract, and county level played an important role, though a smaller role than individual factors, in explaining years of life lost to heart disease. Keywords: Social context; Own group density; Socioeconomic factors; Years of life lost; Coronary heart disease; Multilevel models, USA

This study examines how socioeconomic inequalities in perceived health were reproduced as a cohort of adult men became 10 years older, and focuses especially on the role of social causation and health-selective mobility. A two-wave panel data set collected by the Nord-Tr[empty set]ndelag Health Study (HUNT), Norway, is used, and the study is based on a sample of 9189 men aged 25-49 at baseline. Systematic socioeconomic inequalities in perceived health were observed both at baseline and 10 years later when the sample was aged 35-59. Measured as age-adjusted percentage differences, inequalities in perceived health widened during the study period, both among those who were continuously employed and between the employed and non-employed. The pattern of health inequalities was transformed as a result of numerous changes in perceived health and considerable social mobility during the study period. Compared to higher white collar, changes in perceived health during the study period were more negative among medium-level and manual occupations, and even more negative among the non-employed. Mobility between occupational classes among those employed at both observation points was not selective for health, but transitions into and out of employment were strongly health-selective. It is argued that the transformation of the health inequality pattern among those continuously employed was solely due to social causation, i.e., to more negative changes in perceived health among medium/manual occupations than among the white collar. The wider difference in perceived health between the employed and nonemployed was, however, primarily a result of health-selective mobility into and out of the non-employed category. [c] 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Socioeconomic inequalities in health; Perceived health; Social causation; Health-selective mobility; Norway

The social gradient in heath refers to the fact that inequalities in population health status are related to inequalities in social status. This study advances and tests a model of the relationships between what we term primary and secondary determinants of the social gradient in health. The primary determinants of health include socioeconomic and demographic indicators. Secondary determinants include stressors, control, self-esteem, social support, and social involvement. Health status is indicated by measures of physical health, self-reported health status, and mental distress. Data are taken from the Canadian National Population Health (NPH) Survey (1994-1995). The study sample consists of 7720 men and 9269 women 15 to over 80 years of age. Using path analysis, we found that higher household income, being retired and growing older are significantly associated with lower stressor levels. Higher stressor levels are associated with lower levels of control, self-esteem, and social support. Higher income Canadians experience greater levels of control and social support, while older Canadians experience lower rates of social support but higher rates of social involvement. Being employed and caring for one's family are positively associated with better physical and self-reported health status. Higher household income, being retired, and aging are associated with better physical health and lower mental distress when accounting for their role in lowering stressor levels and bolstering control, self-esteem, social support, and social involvement. Replicating this study with future samples of the NPH Survey should be of benefit in ascertaining whether the social gradient in Canadians' health status shows signs of declining. Keywords: Heath; Determinants; Social gradient; Stressors; NPHS; Canada