IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v100y2014icp107-114.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of asset-based wealth inequality on problem drinking among rural Thai elders: A prospective population-based cohort study

Author

Listed:
  • Jirapramukpitak, Tawanchai
  • Abas, Melanie
  • Tangchonlatip, Kanchana
  • Punpuing, Sureeporn

Abstract

Evidence on the link between income inequality and alcohol-related problems is scarce, inconclusive and dominated by studies from the developed world. The use of income as a proxy measure for wealth is also questionable, particularly in developing countries. The goal of the present study is to explore the contextual influence of asset-based wealth inequality on problem drinking among Thai older adults. A population-based cohort study with a one-year follow-up was nested in a Demographic Surveillance System (DSS) of 100 villages in western Thailand. Data were drawn from a random sample of 1104 older residents, aged 60 or over (one per household) drawn from all 100 villages, of whom 982 (89%) provided problem drinking data at follow-up. The primary outcome measure was a validated Thai version of the Alcohol-Used Disorder Identification Test for problem drinking. Living in areas of high wealth inequality was prospectively associated with a greater risk for problem drinking among older people (adjusted odds ratio 2.30, 95% confidence intervals 1.02–5.22), after adjusting for individual-level and village-level factors. A rise in wealth inequality over the year was also independently associated with an increased risk of problem drinking (adjusted odds ratio 2.89, 95% confidence intervals 1.24–6.65). The associations were not explained by the social capital, status anxiety or psychosocial stress variables. The data suggest that wealth inequality and an increase in inequality across time lead to a greater risk of problem drinking. Efforts should be directed towards reducing gaps and preventing large jumps in inequality in the communities. Further research should investigate the effect of asset-based inequality on various health risk behaviors and its specific mediating pathways.

Suggested Citation

  • Jirapramukpitak, Tawanchai & Abas, Melanie & Tangchonlatip, Kanchana & Punpuing, Sureeporn, 2014. "The effect of asset-based wealth inequality on problem drinking among rural Thai elders: A prospective population-based cohort study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 107-114.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:100:y:2014:i:c:p:107-114
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.09.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613005467
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.09.025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Lordan, Grace & Shields, Michael A., 2013. "Exploring the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and problem drinking as captured by Google searches in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 61-68.
    2. Deininger, Klaus & Olinto, Pedro, 2000. "Asset distribution, inequality, and growth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2375, The World Bank.
    3. Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, B.P. & Lochner, K. & Prothrow-Stith, D., 1997. "Social capital, income inequality, and mortality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1491-1498.
    4. Diez Roux, A.V., 2001. "Investigating neighborhood and area effects on health," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(11), pages 1783-1789.
    5. David McKenzie, 2005. "Measuring inequality with asset indicators," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(2), pages 229-260, June.
    6. Henderson, Claire & Liu, Xinhua & Diez Roux, Ana V. & Link, Bruce G. & Hasin, Deborah, 2004. "The effects of US state income inequality and alcohol policies on symptoms of depression and alcohol dependence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 565-575, February.
    7. Blomgren, Jenni & Martikainen, Pekka & Mäkelä, Pia & Valkonen, Tapani, 2004. "The effects of regional characteristics on alcohol-related mortality--a register-based multilevel analysis of 1.1 million men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 2523-2535, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sungik Kang & Ja-Hoon Koo, 2023. "Exploring Social Capital Level in Regions with Large and Increasing Wealth Inequality: Lesson from Seoul, South Korea," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 165-183, August.
    2. Mohamed Arouri & Nguyen Viet Cuong, 2020. "Wealth inequality and inter-governorate migration: Evidence from Egypt," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 20(2), pages 119-139, April.
    3. Tommy Haugan & Sally Muggleton & Arnhild Myhr, 2021. "Psychological distress in late adolescence: The role of inequalities in family affluence and municipal socioeconomic characteristics in Norway," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, July.
    4. Bowling, Ann & Stafford, Mai, 2007. "How do objective and subjective assessments of neighbourhood influence social and physical functioning in older age? Findings from a British survey of ageing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 2533-2549, June.
    5. Saloni Dev & Daniel Kim, 2020. "State-Level Income Inequality and County-Level Social Capital in Relation to Individual-Level Depression in Middle-Aged Adults: A Lagged Multilevel Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-12, July.
    6. Han, Sehee, 2013. "Compositional and contextual associations of social capital and self-rated health in Seoul, South Korea: A multilevel analysis of longitudinal evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 113-120.
    7. Shortt, S. E. D., 2004. "Making sense of social capital, health and policy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 11-22, October.
    8. Sheabo Dessalegn, S., 2017. "Social capital and maternal health care use in rural Ethiopia," Other publications TiSEM bb0ec225-4ec3-4028-90d6-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Gage, Anastasia J., 2005. "Women's experience of intimate partner violence in Haiti," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 343-364, July.
    10. Ivica Petrikova, 2022. "The Effects of Local-Level Economic Inequality on Social Capital: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh, India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(6), pages 2850-2877, December.
    11. Ioana van Deurzen & Wim van Oorschot & Erik van Ingen, 2014. "The Link between Inequality and Population Health in Low and Middle Income Countries: Policy Myth or Social Reality?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    12. Airaksinen, Jaakko & Hakulinen, Christian & Elovainio, Marko & Lehtimäki, Terho & Raitakari, Olli T. & Keltikangas-Järvinen, Liisa & Jokela, Markus, 2015. "Neighborhood effects in depressive symptoms, social support, and mistrust: Longitudinal analysis with repeated measurements," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 136, pages 10-16.
    13. Waverijn, Geeke & Heijmans, Monique & Groenewegen, Peter P., 2017. "Neighbourly support of people with chronic illness; is it related to neighbourhood social capital?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 110-117.
    14. Mohamed El Hedi Arouri & Nguyen Viet Cuong, 2018. "On the Impact of Household Asset level and Inequality on Inter-governorate Migration: Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 1182, Economic Research Forum, revised 12 Apr 2018.
    15. Dahl, Espen & Ivar Elstad, Jon & Hofoss, Dag & Martin-Mollard, Melissa, 2006. "For whom is income inequality most harmful? A multi-level analysis of income inequality and mortality in Norway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2562-2574, November.
    16. Susan Lagaert & Thom Snaphaan & Veerle Vyncke & Wim Hardyns & Lieven J. R. Pauwels & Sara Willems, 2021. "A Multilevel Perspective on the Health Effect of Social Capital: Evidence for the Relative Importance of Individual Social Capital over Neighborhood Social Capital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-21, February.
    17. Yahya Shadi & Mohammad Hassan Lotfi & Saharnaz Nedjat & Mostafa Amini Rarani & Esmaeil Khedmati Morasae, 2018. "Explaining Unequal Levels of Social Capital in Tehran," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 243-265, November.
    18. Cho, Youngtae & Park, Gil-Sung & Echevarria-Cruz, Samuel, 2005. "Perceived neighborhood characteristics and the health of adult Koreans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(6), pages 1285-1297, March.
    19. Jenni Blomgren & Tapani Valkonen, 2007. "Characteristics of urban regions and all-cause mortality in working-age population," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 17(5), pages 109-134.
    20. Ming Wen & Christopher R. Browning & Kathleen A. Cagney, 2007. "Neighbourhood Deprivation, Social Capital and Regular Exercise during Adulthood: A Multilevel Study in Chicago," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(13), pages 2651-2671, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:100:y:2014:i:c:p:107-114. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.