Socioeconomic differences in health over the life cycle in an Egalitarian country

Hans van Kippersluis, Owen O'Donnell, Eddy Van Doorslaer and Tom Van Ourti

Social Science & Medicine, 2010, vol. 70, issue 3, 428-438

Abstract: A strong cross-sectional relationship between health and socioeconomic status is firmly established. This paper adopts a life cycle perspective to investigate whether the socioeconomically disadvantaged, on top of a lower health level, experience a sharper deterioration of health over time. Data are drawn from the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) Health Interview Surveys covering the period 1983-2000. The analysis focuses on the self-rated health and disability of persons aged 16-80. We show that in the Netherlands, as in the US, the socioeconomic gradient in health widens until late-middle age and narrows thereafter. The analysis and the available evidence suggests that the widening gradient is attributable both to health-related withdrawal from the labor force, resulting in lower incomes, and the cumulative protective effect of education on health outcomes. The less educated appear to suffer a double health penalty in that they begin adult life with a slightly lower health level, which subsequently declines at a faster rate.

Keywords: Socioeconomic; status; Life; cycle; Age; Labor; Education; Self-rated; health; (SRH); Disability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

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Working Paper: Socioeconomic Differences in Health over the Life Cycle in an Egalitarian Country (2009)
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