Full Citation
Title: Social Comparisons and Health: Can Having Richer Friends and Neighbors Make You Sick?
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2009
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: Do richer friends and neighbors improve your health through positive material effects, or do they makeyou feel worse through the negative effect of social comparison and relative deprivation? Using thenewly available National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) data set that reports individualsincome positions within their self-defined social networks, this paper examines whether there is anassociation between relative position and health in the US. Because this study uses measures of individualspositions within their self-defined social groups rather than researcher-imputed measures ofrelative position, I am able to more precisely examine linkages between individual relative position andhealth. I find a relationship between relative position and health status, and find indirect support for thebiological mechanism underlying the relative deprivation model: lower relative position tends to beassociated with those health conditions thought to be linked to physiological stress. I also find, however,that only extremes of relative position matter: very low relative position is associated with worse selfratedphysical health and mobility, increased overall disease burden, and increased reporting ofcardiovascular morbidity; very high relative position is associated with lower probabilities of reportingdiabetes, ulcers, and hypertension. I observe few associations between health and either moderately highor moderately low positions. This analysis suggests that the mechanism underlying the relativedeprivation model may only have significant effects for those at the very bottom or the very top.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Pham-Kanter, Genevieve
Periodical (Full): Social science & medicine
Issue:
Volume: 69
Pages: 335-344
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Health, Housing and Segregation
Countries: