Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland
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 W...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/002214650704800303 2024-09-30T14:37:04+00:00 Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland Olafsdottir, Sigrun 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002214650704800303 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002214650704800303 en eng SAGE Publications https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Journal of Health and Social Behavior volume 48, issue 3, page 239-253 ISSN 0022-1465 2150-6000 journal-article 2007 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650704800303 2024-09-10T04:25:48Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland SAGE Publications Journal of Health and Social Behavior 48 3 239 253 |
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English |
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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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Olafsdottir, Sigrun |
spellingShingle |
Olafsdottir, Sigrun Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland |
author_facet |
Olafsdottir, Sigrun |
author_sort |
Olafsdottir, Sigrun |
title |
Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland |
title_short |
Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland |
title_full |
Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fundamental Causes of Health Disparities: Stratification, the Welfare State, and Health in the United States and Iceland |
title_sort |
fundamental causes of health disparities: stratification, the welfare state, and health in the united states and iceland |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/002214650704800303 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002214650704800303 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Journal of Health and Social Behavior volume 48, issue 3, page 239-253 ISSN 0022-1465 2150-6000 |
op_rights |
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/002214650704800303 |
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Journal of Health and Social Behavior |
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48 |
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3 |
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239 |
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253 |
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1811639992135450624 |