Dimensions of Social Stratification and Their Relation to Mortality: A Comparison Across Gender and Life Course Periods in Finland

Rasmus Hoffmann (), Hannes Kröger (), Lasse Tarkiainen () and Pekka Martikainen ()
Additional contact information
Rasmus Hoffmann: European University Institute
Hannes Kröger: European University Institute
Lasse Tarkiainen: University of Helsinki
Pekka Martikainen: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2019, vol. 145, issue 1, No 15, 349-365

Abstract: Abstract Differences in mortality between groups with different socioeconomic positions (SEP) are well-established, but the relative contribution of different SEP measures is unclear. This study compares the correlation between three SEP dimensions and mortality, and investigates differences between gender and age groups (35–59 vs. 60–84). We use an 11% random sample with an 80% oversample of deaths from the Finnish population with information on education, occupational class, individual income, and mortality (n = 496,658; 274,316 deaths between 1995 and 2007). We estimate bivariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models and population attributable fractions. The total effects of education are substantially mediated by occupation and income, and the effects of occupation is mediated by income. All dimensions have their own net effect on mortality, but income shows the steepest mortality gradient (HR 1.78, lowest vs. highest quintile). Income is more important for men and occupational class more important among elderly women. Mortality inequalities are generally smaller in older ages, but the relative importance of income increases. In health inequality studies, the use of only one SEP indicator functions well as a broad marker of SEP. However, only analyses of multiple dimensions allow insights into social mechanisms and how they differ between population subgroups.

Keywords: Social inequality; Mortality; Health inequality; Register data; Education; Income; Occupation; Socioeconomic position (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-019-02078-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:soinre:v:145:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s11205-019-02078-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11205-019-02078-z

Access Statistics for this article

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement is currently edited by Filomena Maggino

More articles in Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().