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According to the income inequality hypothesis, income inequality is associated with poorer health. One important proposed mechanism for this effect is reduced trust. In this study, we argue that income inequality during a person's formative years (i.e., around age 16) may have lasting consequences for trust and health. Multilevel analyses of data from the combined World Values Survey and European Values Study that were collected between 1981 and 2014 support our prediction and show that income inequality is associated with ill health in young adults, in part because it reduces their social trust. The negative consequences of income inequality remain stable for a substantial period of life but eventually fade away and have no effect after age 36. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Numerous empirical studies, largely conducted in Western societies, have linked social capital to health outcomes. However, few studies thus far have been conducted in northeastern Asian countries, particularly Japan. Therefore, whether social capital is a determinant of health in Japanese society remains unclear. This study attempted to provide new evidence for the impact of social capital on health in Japan by analyzing original survey data with two different statistical models. In total, 1910 subjects were randomly selected from 210 enumeration districts (EDs) considered in the 2000 population census. In the present study, after excluding missing data on the outcome and predictor variables, we conducted an analysis of 1157 individuals nested within 206 EDs. Ecological and multilevel regression analyses were performed to examine the association between social capital and health, measured by the General Health (GH) perception item (a subcategory of Short Form 36 (SF-36)), and to estimate the impact of aggregated indicators of social capital on health. We developed an original Japanese version of three social capital items (perceived helpfulness, kindness, and greeting) based on previous studies and expert opinions and prepared a social cohesion index that integrated these three social capital items. The ecological model, after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, revealed that perceived helpfulness and greeting, along with the social cohesion index, were observed to have statistically significant associations with GH. The multilevel model, after adjusting for individual social capital perceptions, indicated that the two aggregated indicators of community social capital (kindness and greeting), along with the social cohesion index, showed a statistically significant association with GH. These results showed the existence of a contextual effect of social capital on health outcomes, although individual differences in social capital perceptions in Japan were considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study investigates the relation of five chronic cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus (DM) to perceived health, and the moderating effects of sex and age. In a community-based cross-sectional telephone survey in Hong Kong, 7730 Chinese aged 25–74 were interviewed in 1994–1996. The odds ratio for poor perceived health associated with each condition was calculated adjusting for age, sex and education. Subjects free from the six conditions were treated as the comparison group. Hypertension, angina, DM, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke were significantly associated with poor perceived health. The odds ratio of poor perceived health was significantly greater in men than in women for having more than one condition among DM, CHD and stroke (p=0.02), and insignificantly greater for stroke, CHD and angina. The odds ratios were significantly greater in the young (25–39) versus the old (60–74) for DM (p=0.008) in men and women combined, and for having either DM, CHD or stroke in men (p=0.02). These findings suggest that the relation of DM, CHD and stroke with poor perceived health tends to be stronger in men and younger adults. These findings have implications for health care workers and home carers who need to appreciate that the same condition may have a different perceived impact on persons of different sex and age, and be sensitive to their varying needs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examines how socioeconomic inequalities in perceived health were reproduced as a cohort of adult men became 10 years older, and focuses especially on the role of social causation and health-selective mobility. A two-wave panel data set collected by the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT), Norway, is used, and the study is based on a sample of 9189 men aged 25–49 at baseline. Systematic socioeconomic inequalities in perceived health were observed both at baseline and 10 years later when the sample was aged 35–59. Measured as age-adjusted percentage differences, inequalities in perceived health widened during the study period, both among those who were continuously employed and between the employed and non-employed. The pattern of health inequalities was transformed as a result of numerous changes in perceived health and considerable social mobility during the study period. Compared to higher white collar, changes in perceived health during the study period were more negative among medium-level and manual occupations, and even more negative among the non-employed. Mobility between occupational classes among those employed at both observation points was not selective for health, but transitions into and out of employment were strongly health-selective. It is argued that the transformation of the health inequality pattern among those continuously employed was solely due to social causation, i.e., to more negative changes in perceived health among medium/manual occupations than among the white collar. The wider difference in perceived health between the employed and non-employed was, however, primarily a result of health-selective mobility into and out of the non-employed category. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Neighbourhood objective socio-economic indicators and community-reported subjective measures of social capital were examined in relation to children''s health-related quality of life in the Netherlands. Three different data-sources were used: (1) objective neighbourhood socio-economic indicators, (2) subjective neighbourhood data on social capital, and (3) individual data of a family cohort study, including questions on children''s health-related quality of life, and family socio-economic status. Multilevel analyses were conducted using both neighbourhood level and individual level data.Neighbourhood socio-economic status and social capital were associated. Measures of socio-economic deprivation and social capital were both non-specifically associated with children''s general health and satisfaction, independent of possible individual-level confounders. However, children''s mental health and behaviour were specifically associated with one aspect of social capital, the degree of informal social control in the neighbourhood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Rationale: Aging veterans often suffer from increased vulnerability, manifested among other things in old subjective age and poor perceived health. Though research has documented the contribution of trauma related variables to these negative appraisals, their associations with impostorism (i.e., the subjective experience that one is less adequate than others perceive) remain unexamined. Objective: Filling this gap, this study explored the relations between impostorism and subjective age and perceived health among aging combat veterans. Method: The study was conducted among 146 Israeli veterans of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Participants were assessed for combat exposure, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and health-related behaviors during middle adulthood (1991; T1), and for subjective age, perceived health, impostorism, PTSD symptoms, and depressive symptoms during old age (2018; T2). Results: The veterans' impostorism was associated with relatively old subjective age and poor perceived health, above and beyond the effects of age, health-related behaviors, combat exposure, depressive symptoms, and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: The current results suggest that impostorism may contribute to veterans' stress and negatively affect their evaluations regarding age and health. • Veteran impostorism is perceived self-fraudulence. • Impostorism was associated with negative perceived health and older subjective age. • Impostorism explained variance in perceived health beyond PTSD and depression. • Impostorism explained variance in subjective age beyond PTSD and depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]