This dissertation consists of three independent studies of health inequalities. Each study examines a different source of inequality and focuses on a particular health outcome. The first study investigates inequalities in old-age morbidity between Palestinians and Jews in Israel.
Housing tenure, household amenities, housing characteristics, broken window index, social standing of the habitat Overcrowding Calculated as the number of persons living in the household per number of rooms available in the house usually excluding kitchen and bathrooms Composite indicators At individual usually measured as a score that adds up the presence or absence of several SEP indicators or at area level Proxy indicators These are not strictly indicators of SEP but they can be strongly correlated with SEP and when more appropriate information is not available they may be useful in describing social patterning.
Some cases may provide insight into the mechanism that explains the underlying association of SEP and a particular health outcome. However, they may be associated with the health outcome through independent mechanisms not related to their correlation with SEP aAlso known health and wealth inequalities essay help British Occupational-based Social Class.
Taken directly from Galobardes et al. Absolute versus relative social position The second, related question deals with whether absolute or relative 36 position matters for health. This is particularly important when considering poverty, which can be defined in an absolute sense by comparing a given income to a static benchmark, or in a relative sense by comparing a given income to the overall distribution of incomes in a population Absolute poverty definitions rely on a fixed monetary threshold called a poverty line, though this threshold in generally specific to year, country, and household size.
Those with incomes falling below the threshold are considered impoverished.
On the other hand, relative poverty is defined by comparing a given income to the distribution of income in a population. Among other distinctions between the two ways of defining poverty, it is important to note that a relative poverty definition may classify a greater proportion of a population as impoverished, especially in countries with high levels of income inequality 3.
Notions of absolute versus relative poverty highlight that measures of income can be both objective and subjective. Whether someone feels wealthy or poor in relation to his neighbors is a subjective measure of wealth.
By this logic, the health of an individual whose income stays constant should remain unchanged as those around him become wealthier.
The absolute income hypothesis ignores the fact that as society becomes wealthier, the material goods needed to fully participate in society can change. Goods such as cars, phones, and computers are now more important than ever to accomplish tasks such as getting to work or accessing health care.
As a result, those with static incomes in a changing society may fall behind, potentially suffering psychological distress and stress-related health effects from being unable to keep up with average standards of consumption 3.
The relative income hypothesis, which considers subjective measures of wealth, has the advantage of considering psychosocial pathways linking income to health; though testing the hypothesis requires making assumptions about how individuals compare themselves to others.
For example, do low-income families feel socially excluded only when other low-income families begin earning more, or do the rising income of celebrities matter as well 3?
It is also possible that relative income matters through other mechanisms as well, with income distribution affecting the ways in which businesses and governments invest in serving the poor Studies that focus on overall income distribution as a determinant of health often use a statistic called the Gini coefficient 39which summarizes income inequality, to help predict outcomes.
As noted briefly earlier, while the differentiation of relative versus absolute position is particularly relevant when social groups are defined by income, this concept extends to other ordered stratification variables that measure the extent to which individuals are falling behind others around them.
These variables may be alternative constructs for measuring access to resources in the place of income, poverty, or wealth measures.
For example, Townsend created an index that took account of diet, clothing, housing, work, recreation, and education, among other factors, to measure deprivation in the UK This approach to creating a multidimensional poverty measure has also been utilized to better understand deprivation in the developing country context The distinction between absolute and relative position also matters outside the realm of material or economic deprivation.
For example, researchers have examined the impact of winning an Academy Award on all-cause mortality among nominated movie stars in order to investigate whether relative differences in social status mattered for the health of individuals who all uniformly enjoyed high absolute levels of prestige and social status Interest in relative measures of SES, broadly speaking, has grown alongside research arguing that inequality itself harms health Multilevel modeling techniques 44 that allow us to disentangle the influence of individual characteristics from those of higher level structures have also been instrumental in advancing this stream of research into inequality as an independent health risk factor.
Differentiating the concepts of space and place helps us to better understand the different ways in which geography can affect health For example, air pollution that exacerbates asthma symptoms would be an example of a health risk that is distributed across space.
Proximity to landfills, crime clusters, and health clinics are other examples of spatially patterned health risks and protective factors. In contrast, place refers to membership in political or administrative units, such as school districts, cities, or states. Many government run programs and policies that affect health, such as food assistance programs or tax policies, are specific to administrative units and operate uniformly within their boundaries.
Concepts of space and place are often treated as exchangeable, and it is easy to see why. Political and administrative units are geographically defined such that people in the same place are often also very close together in space.
However, if we imagine an example in which individuals are simultaneously exposed to health risks from a polluting local factory and to health benefits from a village aid program, the conceptual differences become clear. In this example, moving farther from a point source of pollution could improve health, regardless of whether the move were to a location inside or outside the village boundaries.
In contrast, maintaining aid would be contingent on residing within village boundaries regardless of where within the village a person lived.
Observed geographic health disparities may be driven by processes that are rooted in space, place, or both. From a research standpoint, the studies one might propose to understand geographic health inequalities should account for whether hypothesized health risks are spatial versus place-based.Health and wealth inequalities essay writer.
dissertation antonyms group displays of aggression essay help big boy locomotive comparison essay help writing a persuasive essay short story essay for lamb to the slaughter aboriginal stolen generation essay universal male suffrage jacksonian democracy essay is love stronger than hate essays.
Inequalities in health have many factors but these can be argued against as to whether they are the actual cause. Social class is a factor, along with region, age, gender, ethnicity etc. Measuring the impact of social class is difficult because social classes have changed over the years, eg) working class living conditions have changed, and there is a delay in the onset of diseases, eg.
Free coursework on The Essay Will Interpret Inequalities In Health Among The Sub from regardbouddhiste.com, the UK essays company for essay, dissertation and coursework writing. The aim of this essay is to compare and contrast different sociological perspectives of health and illness.
The definition of health, rather than being absolute is always relative and it differs from person to person. According to the WHO: “Health is a state of complete physical, social and mental.
Language english essays on different, fed up movie essay on malcolm the relationship between marketing and consumerism essay desert biome essays emerson gifts essay summary change and continuity over time essay comparative words list for essays on love california baptist university application essay uf admissions essay leo brouwer elogio de la danza analysis essay, mi hijo el dotor.
Closing the health-wealth gap. Inequality in the United States is undermining Americans’ health and longevity, say experts. People living at the low end of the socioeconomic spectrum may be most affected by health inequalities, but poorer health doesn't exist only among the poor.
Universal preschool may help them start out on a level.