When one's main effect is another's error: material vs. psychosocial explanations of health disparities. A commentary on Macleod et al., "is subjective social status a more important determinant of health than objective social status? Evidence from a prospective observational study of Scottish men" (61(9), 2005, 1916-1929)

Social Science & Medicine
Nancy E Adler

Abstract

Two pathways by which socioeconomic factors result in health disparities are the material and the psychosocial. Recently, Macleod and colleagues reported on data showing that a subjective measure of workplace status was not as strongly related to mortality as were objective indicators and that another psychosocial measure, perceived stress, did not mediate the impact of these indicators [Macleod et al., 2005. Is subjective social status a more important determinant of health than objective social status? Evidence from a prospective observational study of Scottish men. Social Science & Medicine, 61(9), 1916-1929]. They suggest that the failure of these variables is indicative of the relative insignificance of psychosocial influences on health. This commentary argues for a different approach to examining these pathways. Efforts to demonstrate the failure of variables to predict health have the usual difficulties of trying to prove the null hypothesis. In this instance, problems in the conceptualization and measurement of psychosocial variables may account for the null results. Psychosocial and material factors are not mutually exclusive but, rather, are complementary. Unexplained variation in health when material factors are acco...Continue Reading

References

Dec 1, 1983·Journal of Health and Social Behavior·S CohenR Mermelstein
Feb 22, 2000·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·N E Adler, J M Ostrove
Mar 4, 2005·Journal of the American Geriatrics Society·Peifeng HuTeresa E Seeman
Jul 16, 2005·Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health·Maria S KoppNancy E Adler
Nov 30, 2005·Psychosomatic Medicine·Archana Singh-ManouxNancy E Adler

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Dec 8, 2009·American Journal of Public Health·Nancy KriegerMahzarin Banaji
Dec 18, 2010·American Journal of Public Health·Elizabeth Sweet
May 29, 2010·AAOHN Journal : Official Journal of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses·A B de CastroNoah S Seixas
Aug 28, 2007·Social Science & Medicine·Matthew CoxAndrew D Morris
Feb 27, 2007·The Milbank Quarterly·David A Kindig
Jun 18, 2010·Social Science & Medicine·Matt Bradshaw, Christopher G Ellison
Sep 15, 2007·Journal of Health Psychology·Darrin HodgettsAndrea Hodgetts
Sep 6, 2019·Maternal & Child Nutrition·Sara MoukarzelAlan J Daly
Sep 27, 2018·Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology·David S BrennanKaye F Roberts-Thomson
Jan 19, 2011·Sociology of Health & Illness·Sakari Karvonen, Ossi Rahkonen

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Cardiovascular Disease Pathophysiology

Cardiovascular disease involves several different processes that contribute to the pathological mechanism, including hyperglycemia, inflammation, atherosclerosis, hypertension and more. Vasculature stability plays a critical role in the development of the disease. Discover the latest research on cardiovascular disease pathophysiology here.