Use of census-based aggregate variables to proxy for socioeconomic group: Evidence from national samples

American Journal of Epidemiology

Volumn 148, Issue 5, 1998, Pages 475-486

  Geronimus, Arline T ^a   Bound, John ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN   (United States)

Author keywords

Aggregation; Census tract; Geocoding; Health surveys; Social class; Socioeconomic factors; Zip code

Indexed keywords

CENSUS; MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY; METHODOLOGY; RESIDENTIAL LOCATION; SOCIOECONOMIC INDICATOR;

ARTICLE; HEALTH STATUS; HEALTH SURVEY; POPULATION RESEARCH; SOCIOECONOMICS; STATISTICAL ANALYSIS;

EID: 0032167805     PISSN: 00029262     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009673     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. Williams DR. Socioeconomic differentials in health: a review and redirection. Soc Psychol Q 1990;53(2):81-99.
2. Angell M. Privilege and health - what is the connection? N Engl J Med 1993;329:126-7.
3. Feinstein JS. The relationship between socioeconomic status and health: a review of the literature. Milbank Q 1993;71: 279-322.
4. Moss N, Krieger N. Measuring social inequalities in health. Public Health Rep 1995;110:302-5.
5. Syme SL, Moss N, Krieger N, rapporteurs. Recommendations of the conference "Measuring Social Inequalities in Health." Int J Health Serv 1996;26:521-7.
6. Devesa SS, Diamond EL. Socioeconomic and racial differences in lung cancer incidence. Am J Epidemiol 1983;118: 818-31.
7. McWhorter WP, Schatzkin AG, Horm JW, et al. Contribution of socioeconomic status to black/white differences in cancer incidence. Cancer 1989;63:982-7.
8. Mandelblatt J, Andrews H, Kerner J, et al. Determinants of late stage diagnosis of breast and cervical cancer: the impact of age, race, social class, and hospital type. Am J Public Health 1991;81:646-9.
9. Wise PH, Kotelchuck M, Wilson ML, et al. Racial and socioeconomic disparities in childhood mortality in Boston. N Engl J Med 1985;313:360-6.
10. Gould JB, Davey B, LeRoy S. Socioeconomic differentials in neonatal mortality: racial comparison of California singletons. Pediatrics 1989;83:181-6.
11. Collins JW, David RJ. Differences in neonatal mortality by race, income, and prenatal care. Ethnicity Dis 1992;2:18-26.
12. Kraus JF, Fife D, Ramstein K, et al. The relationship of family income to the incidence, external causes, and outcomes of serious brain injury, San Diego County, California. Am J Public Health 1986;76:1345-7.
13. Marder D, Targonski P, Orris P, et al. Effect of racial and socioeconomic factors on asthma mortality in Chicago. Chest 1992;101:4265-4298.
14. Byrne C, Nedelman J, Luke RG. Race, socioeconomic status, and the development of end-stage renal disease. Am J Kidney Dis 1994;23:16-22.
15. Cherkin DC, Grothaus L, Wagner EH. Is magnitude of co-payment effect related to income? Using census data for health services research. Soc Sci Med 1992;34:33-41.
16. Greenwald HP, Polissar NL, Borgatta EF, et al. Detecting survival effects of socioeconomic status: problems in the use of aggregate measures. J Clin Epidemiol 1994;47:903-9.
17. Geronimus AT, Bound J, Neidert LJ. On the validity of using census geocode characteristics to proxy individual socioeconomic characteristics. J Am Statist Assoc 1996;91:529-37.
18. Kreiger N, Williams DR, Moss NE. Measuring social class in US public health research: concepts, methodologies, guidelines. Annu Rev Public Health 1997;18:341-78.
19. Hill MS. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics: a user's guide. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1992.
20. Institute for Social Research. A Panel Study of Income Dynamics: procedures and tape codes, 1985 interviewing year (documentation), vol. I, wave XVIII, a supplement. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1988.
21. Duncan G, Hill D. Assessing the quality of household panel survey data: the case of the PSID. J Business Econ Stat 1989;7:441-51.
22. Becketti S, Gould W, Lillard L, et al. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics after fourteen years: an evaluation. J Labor Econ 1988;6:472-92.
23. Maddox G, Douglas E. Self-assessment of health: a longitudinal study of elderly subjects. J Health Soc Behav 1993;14: 87-93.
24. LaRue A, Bank L, Jarvic L, et al. Health in old age: how physicians' ratings and self-ratings compare. J Gerontology 1979;34:687-91.
25. Farraro KF. Self-ratings of health among the old and old-old. J Health Soc Behav 1980;21:377-83.
26. Mossey JM, Shapiro E. Self-rated health: a predictor of mortality among the elderly. Am J Public Health 1982;72:800-8.
27. Manning WG, Newhouse JP, Ware JE Jr. The status of health in demand estimation, or beyond excellent, good, fair and poor. In: Fuchs VR, ed. Economic aspects of health. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982:143-84.
28. Duncan O. A socioeconomic index for all occupations. In: Reiss AJ Jr, ed. Occupations and social status. New York: Free Press, 1961:109-38.
29. Hyndman JCT, Holman CDJ, Hockey RL, et al. Misclassification of social disadvantage based on geographical areas: comparison of postcode and collector's districts analyses. Int J Epidemiol 1995;24:165-76.
30. Kreiger N. Overcoming the absence of socioeconomic data in medical records: validation and application of a census-based methodology. Am J Public Health 1992;82:703-10.
31. Dickens WT, Ross BA. Consistent estimation using data from more than one sample. Technical working paper no. 33. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1984.
32. Hammond JL. Two sources of error in ecological correlations. Am Sociol Rev 1973;38:764-77.