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Qi Y, Vrooman JC, Almansa J, Ots P, Brouwer S, Reijneveld SA. A capital-based approach to understand health inequalities: empirical explorations. Eur J Public Health 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckac130.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
The persistence of health inequalities may not be merely driven by education and income, but also by other economic and non-economic factors. In this study we investigated how the association between single-dimensional health and socioeconomic status (SES) changes when including health-related person capital, economic capital, social capital, cultural capital and non-health related person capital.
Methods
The present study proposes a capital-based approach to understand health inequalities. It presumes intertwined relationships between a wide notion of health (‘health-related person capital’) and embodied resources (‘non-health related person capital’) on the one hand, and non-person capital, i.e. economic, social, and cultural resources on the other. We used cross-sectional data on 152,592 participants from the Dutch Lifelines cohort study. Correlations between capital constructs were estimated using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Results
The correlation between health-related person capital and SES (r = 0.15) was higher than the correlations between single-dimensional health (physical and mental health) and SES (r = 0.12, r = 0.04, respectively). Non-person capital, combining economic, social and cultural capital, showed a correlation of 0.34 with health-related person capital. This was higher than the correlation between health-related person capital and economic capital alone (r = 0.19). Lastly, the correlation between health-related person capital and non-person capital increased when non-health (personality and attractiveness) and health related person capital were combined into person capital construct (from r = 0.34 to r = 0.49).
Conclusions
This exploratory observational study shows the empirical interconnectedness of various types of resources. Our findings corroborate the idea of considering health as a multidimensional concept, and to extend conventional SES indicators to a broader measurement of economic and non-economic resources.
Key messages
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Qi
- Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen , Groningen, Netherlands
| | - JC Vrooman
- Department of Sociology, ICS, Utrecht University , Utrecht, Netherlands
- The Netherlands Institute for Social Research, SCP , Den Haag, Netherlands
| | - J Almansa
- Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen , Groningen, Netherlands
| | - P Ots
- Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen , Groningen, Netherlands
| | - S Brouwer
- Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen , Groningen, Netherlands
| | - SA Reijneveld
- Health Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen , Groningen, Netherlands
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