Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/267846 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of Health and Social Behavior [ISSN:] 2150-6000 [Volume:] 63 [Issue:] 4 [Publisher:] Sage [Place:] Thousand Oaks, CA [Year:] 2022 [Pages:] 543-559
Publisher: 
Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA
Abstract: 
Pioneering scholarship links retrospective childhood conditions to mature adult health. We distinctively provide critical evidence with prospective state-of-the-art measures of parent income observed multiple times during childhood in the 1970s to 1990s. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we analyze six health outcomes (self-rated health, heart attack, stroke, life-threatening chronic conditions, non-life-threatening chronic conditions, and psychological distress) among 40- to 65-year-olds. Parent relative income rank has statistically and substantively significant relationships with five of six outcomes. The relationships with heart attack, stroke, and life-threatening chronic conditions are particularly strong. Parent income rank performs slightly better than alternative prospective and retrospective measures. At the same time, we provide novel validation on which retrospective measures (i.e., father’s education) perform almost as well as prospective measures. Furthermore, we inform several perennial debates about how relative versus absolute income and other measures of socioeconomic status and social class influence health.
Subjects: 
income
life course
social class
health disparities
Published Version’s DOI: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-zero Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Manuscript Version (Preprint)

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.