Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland

Autor/in	Olafsdottir, Sigrun
Titel	Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland
Quelle	In: Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 48 (2007) 3, S.239-253 (15 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-1465
DOI	10.1177/002214650704800303
Schlagwörter	Social Status; Marital Status; Student Attitudes; Living Standards; Health; Cross Cultural Studies; Social Differences; Surveys; Diseases; Social Indicators; Social Systems; Poverty; Employment; Educational Attainment; Parents; Intervention; Welfare Services; Iceland; United States; General Social Survey + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sozialer Status; Familienstand; Schülerverhalten; Lebensstandard; Gesundheit; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Sozialer Unterschied; Survey; Umfrage; Befragung; Disease; Krankheit; Social indicator; Sozialer Indikator; Social system; Soziales System; Armut; Dienstverhältnis; Bildungsabschluss; Bildungsgut; Eltern; Fürsorgeeinrichtung; Island; USA
Abstract	Research has established that those with higher social status have better health. Less is known about whether this relationship differs cross-nationally and whether it operates similarly across different institutional arrangements. To examine the relationship between stratification and health, two Western, industrialized societies at opposite ends of an equal/unequal continuum are compared: the United States and Iceland. Using data from the 1998 General Social Survey and the 1998 Health and Living Standards of Adult Icelanders survey, I draw from two theoretical perspectives. First, I explore the notion of fundamental causes of disease by examining whether stratification has similar effects on health. Second, I examine whether the organization of welfare states affects this relationship. The results show that education, employment, and relative poverty have similar effects on health in both nations, thus supporting the notion of a fundamental cause. However, in Iceland relative affluence has a weaker relationship with health. Further, being a parent, regardless of marital status, has a stronger positive relationship with good health in Iceland. Welfare state intervention may be most successful in equalizing health outcomes by supporting families and by removing advantages traditionally accumulated by the wealthy in capitalist societies. (Contains 4 notes, 2 tables, and 4 figures.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10