IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0254414.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socioeconomic position, social mobility, and health selection effects on allostatic load in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Alexi Gugushvili
  • Grzegorz Bulczak
  • Olga Zelinska
  • Jonathan Koltai

Abstract

The contemporaneous association between higher socioeconomic position and better health is well established. Life course research has also demonstrated a lasting effect of childhood socioeconomic conditions on adult health and well-being. Yet, little is known about the separate health effects of intergenerational mobility—moving into a different socioeconomic position than one’s parents—among early adults in the United States. Most studies on the health implications of mobility rely on cross-sectional datasets, which makes it impossible to differentiate between health selection and social causation effects. In addition, understanding the effects of social mobility on health at a relatively young age has been hampered by the paucity of health measures that reliably predict disease onset. Analysing 4,713 respondents aged 25 to 32 from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health’s Waves I and IV, we use diagonal reference models to separately identify the effects of socioeconomic origin and destination, as well as social mobility on allostatic load among individuals in the United States. Using a combined measure of educational and occupational attainment, and accounting for individuals’ initial health, we demonstrate that in addition to health gradient among the socially immobile, individuals’ socioeconomic origin and destination are equally important for multi-system physiological dysregulation. Short-range upward mobility also has a positive and significant association with health. After mitigating health selection concerns in our observational data, this effect is observed only among those reporting poor health before experiencing social mobility. Our findings move towards the reconciliation of two theoretical perspectives, confirming the positive effect of upward mobility as predicted by the “rags to riches” perspective, while not contradicting potential costs associated with more extensive upward mobility experiences as predicted by the dissociative thesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexi Gugushvili & Grzegorz Bulczak & Olga Zelinska & Jonathan Koltai, 2021. "Socioeconomic position, social mobility, and health selection effects on allostatic load in the United States," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(8), pages 1-22, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0254414
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254414
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0254414
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0254414&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0254414?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Hayward & Bridget Gorman, 2004. "The long arm of childhood: The influence of early-life social conditions on men’s mortality," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(1), pages 87-107, February.
    2. Sanna Tiikkaja & Sven Sandin & Ninoa Malki & Bitte Modin & Pär Sparén & Christina M Hultman, 2013. "Social Class, Social Mobility and Risk of Psychiatric Disorder - A Population-Based Longitudinal Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-1, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gugushvili, Alexi & Zelinska, Olga & Präg, Patrick & Bulczak, Grzegorz, 2022. "Does perceived social mobility affect health? Evidence from a fixed effects approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    2. Grzegorz Bulczak & Alexi Gugushvili & Olga Zelinska, 2022. "How are social origin, destination and mobility linked to physical, mental, and self-rated health? Evidence from the United States," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3555-3585, October.
    3. Klara Gurzo & Bitte Modin & Pekka Martikainen & Olof Östergren, 2022. "Pathways from Childhood Economic Conditions to Adult Mortality in a 1953 Stockholm Cohort: The Intermediate Role of Personal Attributes and Socioeconomic Career," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Davillas, Apostolos & Pudney, Stephen, 2017. "Concordance of health states in couples: Analysis of self-reported, nurse administered and blood-based biomarker data in the UK Understanding Society panel," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 87-102.

    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. Robert G. Wood & Brian Goesling & Sarah Avellar, "undated". "The Effects of Marriage on Health: A Synthesis of Recent Research Evidence," Mathematica Policy Research Reports d69bf47785bc4154a4e184aa5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    2. Liliya Leopold & Thomas Leopold, 2016. "Education and Health across Lives and Cohorts: A Study of Cumulative Advantage in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 835, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    3. Shen, Ke & Zeng, Yi, 2014. "Direct and indirect effects of childhood conditions on survival and health among male and female elderly in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 207-214.
    4. Jo Mhairi Hale, 2017. "Cognitive Disparities: The Impact of the Great Depression and Cumulative Inequality on Later-Life Cognitive Function," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2125-2158, December.
    5. Mäkinen, Tomi & Laaksonen, Mikko & Lahelma, Eero & Rahkonen, Ossi, 2006. "Associations of childhood circumstances with physical and mental functioning in adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1831-1839, April.
    6. Kathryn Anderson & James Foster & David Frisvold, 2004. "Investing in Health: The Long-Term Impact of Head Start," Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers 0426, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics.
    7. Molly A. Martin & Margaret Gough Courtney & Adam M. Lippert, 2022. "The Risks and Consequences of Skipping Meals for Low-Income Mothers," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2613-2644, December.
    8. Hui Zheng & Jonathan Dirlam & Paola Echave, 2021. "Divergent Trends in the Effects of Early Life Factors on Adult Health," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(5), pages 1119-1148, October.
    9. Zai Liang & Feinuo Sun, 2020. "The lasting impact of parental migration on children's education and health outcomes: The case of China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(9), pages 217-244.
    10. Ryan Masters & Robert Hummer & Daniel Powers & Audrey Beck & Shih-Fan Lin & Brian Finch, 2014. "Long-Term Trends in Adult Mortality for U.S. Blacks and Whites: An Examination of Period- and Cohort-Based Changes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2047-2073, December.
    11. Elizabeth M. Lawrence & Elisabeth Root & Stefanie Mollborn, 2015. "Residential mobility in early childhood," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 33(32), pages 939-950.
    12. Brian Thiede & Matthew M. Brooks, 2018. "Child poverty across immigrant generations in the United States, 1993–2016: Evidence using the official and supplemental poverty measures," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 39(40), pages 1065-1080.
    13. Tetyana Pudrovska & Benedicta Anikputa, 2014. "Editor's choice Early-Life Socioeconomic Status and Mortality in Later Life: An Integration of Four Life-Course Mechanisms," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(3), pages 451-460.
    14. Claudia Börnhorst & Dörte Heger & Anne Mensen, 2019. "Associations of childhood health and financial situation with quality of life after retirement – regional variation across Europe," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, April.
    15. Robert G. Wood & Brian Goesling & Sarah Avellar, "undated". "The Effects of Marriage on Health: A Synthesis of Recent Research Evidence (Issue Brief)," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 2685fc6f3f9a4fbd9e672e524, Mathematica Policy Research.
    16. Wolfe, Joseph D. & Thomeer, Mieke Beth & Reczek, Rin, 2023. "Age at first birth and women's midlife health: Cohort and race differences across the 20th century," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    17. Néstor Aldea & Dariya Ordanovich & Alberto Palloni & Diego Ramiro & Francisco Viciana, 2023. "Influence of Place of Birth on Adult Mortality: The Case of Spain," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-22, December.
    18. Pei, Yaolin & Cong, Zhen & Wu, Bei, 2020. "Education, adult children's education, and depressive symptoms among older adults in rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    19. Lillard, Dean R. & Burkhauser, Richard V. & Hahn, Markus H. & Wilkins, Roger, 2015. "Does early-life income inequality predict self-reported health in later life? Evidence from the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 347-355.
    20. Scodellaro, Claire & Khlat, Myriam & Jusot, Florence, 2012. "Intergenerational financial transfers and health in a national sample from France," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(7), pages 1296-1302.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:plo:pone00:0254414. 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: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    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.