Social comparisons and health: Can having richer friends and neighbors make you sick?

Social Science and Medicine

Volumn 69, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 335-344

  Pham Kanter, Genevieve ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

Author keywords

Income inequality; Reference groups; Relative deprivation; Relative income; USA

Indexed keywords

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE; GROUP BEHAVIOR; HEALTH IMPACT; HEALTH SERVICES; HEALTH STATUS; INCOME DISTRIBUTION; MORBIDITY; PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE; SOCIAL NETWORK; SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS;

ARTICLE; CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE; CONTROLLED STUDY; DIABETES MELLITUS; FRIENDSHIP; GENDER BIAS; HEALTH DISPARITY; HEALTH STATUS; HYPERTENSION; INCOME; PHYSICAL MOBILITY; PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS; SELF CONCEPT; SELF ESTEEM; SELF EVALUATION; SELF REPORT; SOCIAL NETWORK; SOCIAL STATUS; SOCIOECONOMICS; ULCER; UNITED STATES; AGED; COMPARATIVE STUDY; ECONOMICS; FEMALE; HUMAN; HUMAN RELATION; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; POVERTY; PREJUDICE; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; SOCIAL JUSTICE; STATISTICAL MODEL; STATISTICS; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA; VERY ELDERLY;

AGED; AGED, 80 AND OVER; FEMALE; HEALTH STATUS; HEALTH STATUS DISPARITIES; HUMANS; INCOME; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MODELS, ECONOMIC; POVERTY; PREJUDICE; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; SELF CONCEPT; SOCIAL JUSTICE; SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS; STATISTICS AS TOPIC;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 67651238380     PISSN: 02779536     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.05.017     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Adler N.E., Boyce W.T., Chesney M.A., Folkman S., and Syme S.L. Socioeconomic inequalities in health: no easy solution. Journal of the American Medical Association 269 (1993) 3140-3145
2. Adler N.E., and Ostrove J.M. Socioeconomic status and health: what we know and what we don't. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 896 (1999) 3-15
3. Charlson M.E., Pompei P., Ales K.L., and MacKenzie C.R. A new method of classifying prognostic comorbidity in longitudinal studies: development and validation. Journal of Chronic Diseases 40 (1987) 373-383
4. Chida Y., Hamer M., Wardle J., and Steptoe A. Do stress-related psychosocial factors contribute to cancer incidence and survival?. Nature Clinical Practice Oncology 5 (2008) 466-475
5. Cohen S., Line S., Manuck S., Rabin B., Heise E., and Kaplan J. Chronic social stress, social status, and susceptibility to upper respiratory infections in nonhuman primates. Psychosomatic Medicine 59 (1997) 213-221
6. Daly M.C., Duncan G.J., Kaplan G.A., and Lynch J.W. Macro-to-micro links in the relation between income inequality and mortality. Milbank Quarterly 76 (1998) 315-339
7. Deaton, A. (2001). Relative deprivation, inequality, and mortality. NBER working paper no. 8099.
8. Deaton A. Health, inequality, and economic development. Journal of Economic Literature 41 (2003) 113-158
9. Deaton A., and Lubotsky D. Mortality, inequality, and race in American cities and states. Social Science & Medicine 56 (2003) 1139-1153
10. Deaton A., and Paxson C. Mortality, education, income and inequality among American cohorts. In: Wise D. (Ed). Themes in the economics of aging (2001), University of Chicago Press, Chicago
11. Deaton, A., & Paxson, C. (2001b). Mortality, income, and income inequality over time in Britain and the United States. NBER working paper no. 8534.
12. Dressler W.W., Balieiro M.C., Ribeiro R.P., and Dos Santos J.E. Cultural consonance and arterial blood pressure in urban Brazil. Social Science & Medicine 61 (2005) 527-540
13. Dressler W.W., and Bindon J.R. The health consequences of cultural consonance: cultural dimensions of lifestyle, social support, and arterial blood pressure in an African American community. American Anthropologist 102 (2000) 244-260
14. Dressler W.W., Bindon J.R., and Neggers Y.H. Culture, socioeconomic status, and coronary heart disease risk factors in an African American community. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 21 (1998) 527-544
15. Eibner C., and Evans W.N. Relative deprivation, poor health habits, and mortality. Journal of Human Resources 40 (2005) 591-620
16. Fiscella K., and Franks P. Poverty or income inequality as predictor of mortality: longitudinal cohort study. British Medical Journal 314 (1997) 1724-1727
17. Frank R.H. Choosing the right pond: Human behavior and the quest for status (1985), Oxford University Press, New York
18. Gravelle, H., & Sutton, M. (2006). Income, relative income, and self-reported health in Britain (1979-2000). Centre for Health Economics working paper no. 10.
19. House J.S., Kessler R.C., and Herzog A.R. Age, socioeconomic status, and health. Milbank Quarterly 68 (1990) 383-411
20. Jaffe D.H., Eisenbach Z., Neumark Y.D., and Manor O. Individual, household and neighborhood socioeconomic status and mortality: a study of absolute and relative deprivation. Social Science & Medicine 60 (2005) 989-997
21. Jones A.M., and Wildman J. Health, income and relative deprivation: evidence from the BHPS. Journal of Health Economics 27 (2008) 308-324
22. Kaplan G.A., Pamuk E.R., Lynch J.W., Cohen R.D., and Balfour J.L. Inequality in income and mortality in the United States: analysis of mortality and potential pathways. British Medical Journal 312 (1996) 999-1003
23. Kennedy B.P., Kawachi I., and Prothrow-Stith D. Income distribution and mortality: cross sectional ecological study of the Robin Hood index in the United States. British Medical Journal 312 (1996) 1004-1007
24. Kondo N., Kawachi I., Subramanian S.V., Takeda Y., and Yamagata Z. Do social comparisons explain the association between income inequality and health?: relative deprivation and perceived health among male and female Japanese individuals. Social Science & Medicine 67 (2008) 982-987
25. Kudielka B., and Kirschbaum C. Sex differences in HPA axis responses to stress: a review. Biological Psychology 69 (2004) 113-132
26. Lynch J.W., Smith G.D., Kaplan G.A., and House J.S. Income inequality and mortality: importance to health of individual income, psychosocial environment, or material conditions. British Medical Journal 320 (2000) 1200-1204
27. Marmot M., and Wilkinson R.G. Psychosocial and material pathways in the relation between income and health: a response to Lynch et al. British Medical Journal 322 (2001) 1233-1236
28. McEwen B.S. Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. New England Journal of Medicine 338 (1998) 171-179
29. McPherson M., Smith-Lovin L., and Cook J.M. Birds of a feather: homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology 27 (2001) 415-444
30. Mellor J., and Milyo J. Income inequality and health status in the United States: evidence from the current population survey. Journal of Human Resources 37 (2002) 510-539
31. Merton R.K. Social theory and social structure (1957), Free Press, New York
32. Miller D., and Paxson C. Relative income, race, and mortality. Journal of Health Economics 25 (2006) 979-1003
33. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Cooperation with National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Clinical guidelines on the identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults: the evidence report. (NIH publication no. 98-4083) (1998), National Institutes of Health, Rockville, MD
34. Reagan P., Salsberry P.J., and Olsen R.J. Does the measure of economic disadvantage matter? Exploring the effect of individual and relative deprivation on intrauterine growth restriction. Social Science & Medicine 64 (2007) 2016-2029
35. Robert S., and House J.S. SES differentials in health by age and alternative indicators of SES. Journal of Aging and Health 8 (1996) 359-388
36. Robins R.W., Hendin H.M., and Trzesniewski K.H. Measuring global self-esteem: construct validation of a single-item measure and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27 (2001) 151-161
37. Romero-Corral A., Montori V.M., Somers V.K., Korinek J., Thomas R.J., Allison T.G., et al. Association of bodyweight with total mortality and with cardiovascular events in coronary artery disease: a systematic review of cohort studies. Lancet 368 (2006) 666-678
38. Rosenberg M. Conceiving the self (1965), Basic Books, New York
39. Sapolsky R.M., Alberts S.C., and Altmann J. Hypercortisolism associated with social subordinance or social isolation among wild baboons. Archives of General Psychiatry 54 (1997) 1137-1143
40. Shively C.A., Laber-Laird K., and Anton R.F. Behavior and physiology of social stress and depression in female Cynomolgus monkeys. Biological Psychiatry 41 (1997) 871-882
41. Sorlie P.D., Backlund E., and Keller J.B. U.S. mortality by economic, demographic, and social characteristics: the national longitudinal mortality study. American Journal of Public Health 85 (1995) 949-956
42. Sturm R., and Gresenz C.R. Relations of income inequality and family income to chronic medical conditions and mental health disorders: national survey. British Medical Journal 324 (2002) 1-5
43. Waldmann R.J. Income distribution and infant mortality. Quarterly Journal of Economics 107 (1992) 1283-1302
44. Waldron I. Sex differences in illness incidence, prognosis and mortality: issues and evidence. Social Science & Medicine 17 (1983) 1107-1123
45. Wilkinson R.G. Unhealthy societies: The afflictions of inequality (1996), Routledge, New York
46. Wilkinson R.G. Socioeconomic determinants of health. Health inequalities: relative or absolute material standards?. British Medical Journal 314 (1997) 591-595
47. Wilkinson R.G., and Pickett K.E. Income inequality and population health: a review and explanation of the evidence. Social Science & Medicine 62 (2006) 1768-1784
48. World Health Organization. Physical status: The use and interpretation of anthropometry (1995), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland WHO technical report series
49. Yngwe M.A., Fritzell J., Lundberg O., Diderichsen F., and Burstrom B. Exploring relative deprivation: is social comparison a mechanism in the relation between income and health?. Social Science & Medicine 57 (2003) 1463-1473