Skip to main content

Development and Initial Testing of a New Socioeconomic Status Measure Based on Housing Data

Journal of Urban Health volume 88, pages 933–944 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been associated with many health outcomes. Commonly used datasets such as medical records often lack data on SES but do include address information. The authors sought to determine whether an SES measure derived from housing characteristics is associated with other SES measures and outcomes known to be associated with SES. The data come from a telephone survey of parents/guardians of children aged 1–17 years who resided in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and Jackson County, Missouri. Seven variables related to housing and six neighborhood characteristics obtained from local government assessor’s offices in Olmsted County, Minnesota, were appended to survey responses. An SES index derived from housing characteristics (hereafter, HOUSES) was constructed using principal components factor analysis. For criterion validity, we assessed Pearson’s correlation coefficients between HOUSES and other SES measures, including self-reported parents’ educational levels, income, Hollingshead Index, and Nakao–Treas Index. For construct validity, we determined the association between HOUSES and outcomes, risks of low birth weight, overweight, and smoking exposure at home. We applied HOUSES to subjects in another community by formulating HOUSES from housing data of subjects in Jackson County, Missouri, using the same statistical algorithm as HOUSES for subjects in Olmsted County, Minnesota. We found that HOUSES had modest to good correlation with other SES measures. Overall, as hypothesized, HOUSES was inversely associated with outcome measures assessed among subjects from both counties. HOUSES may be a useful surrogate measure of individual SES in epidemiologic research, especially when SES measures for individuals are not available.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  1. Berkman L, Kawachi I. Social Epidemiology. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Mackenbach JP, Stirbu I, Roskam A-JR, et al. Socioeconomic inequalities in health in 22 European countries. N Engl J Med. 2008; 358(23): 2468–2481.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Liberatos P, Link BG, Kelsey JL. The measurement of social class in epidemiology. Epidemiol Rev. 1988; 10: 87–121.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Krieger N, Chen JT, Waterman PD, Rehkopk DH, Subramanian SV. Race/ethnicity, gender, and monitoring socioeconomic gradients in health: a comparison of area-based socioeconomic measures—The Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project. Am J Public Health. 2003; 93: 1655–1671.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Health, United States 2002 with Chartbook on Trends in the Health of Americans. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Krieger N. Overcoming the absence of socioeconomic data in medical records: validation and application of a census-based methodology. Am J Public Health. 1992; 82(5): 703–710.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Stafford M, Marmot M. Neighborhood deprivation and health: does it affect us all equally. Int J Epidemiol. 2003; 32: 357–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Juhn Y, Sauver JS, Katusic SK, Vargas D, Weaver A, Yunginger J. The influence of neighborhood environment on the incidence of childhood asthma: a multilevel approach. Soc Sci Med. 2005; 60: 2453–2464.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Smith GD. Editorial: socioeconomic differences in mortality in Britain and the United States. Am J Public Health. 1992; 82(8): 1079–1081.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Macintyre S, Ellaway A, Der G, Ford G, Hunt K. Do housing tenure and car access predict health because they are simply markers of income or self esteem? A Scottish study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1998; 52(10): 657–664.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Dunn JR, Hayes MV. Social inequality, population health, and housing: a study of two Vancouver neighborhoods. Soc Sci Med. 2000; 51(4): 563–587.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Dunn JR. Housing and health inequalities: review and prospects for research. Hous Stud. 2000; 15(3): 341–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Dunn JR. Housing and inequalities in health: a study of socioeconomic dimensions of housing and self reported health from a survey of Vancouver residents. [See comment.] J Epidemiol Community Health. 2002; 56(9): 671–681.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Laaksonen M, Martikainen P, Nihtila E, Rahkonen O, Lahelma E. Home ownership and mortality: a register-based follow-up study of 300 000 Finns. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2008; 62(4): 293–297. doi:10.1136/jech.2007.061309.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. US Census Bureau. Structural and Occupancy Characteristics of Housing: 2000, Census 2000 Brief. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Department of Housing and Urban Development. American Housing Survey for the United States: 1999. Washington DC: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, US Department of Commerce; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Warnecke RB, Oh A, Breen N, et al. Approaching health disparities from a population perspective: the National Institutes of Health Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities. Am J Public Health. 2008; 98(9): 1608–1615.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. O’Campo P, Xue X, Wang MC, Caughy M. Neighborhood risk factors for low birthweight in Baltimore: a multilevel analysis. Am J Public Health. 1997; 87(7): 1113–1118.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Winkleby MA, Fortmann SP, Barrett DC. Social class disparities in risk factors for disease: eight-year prevalence patterns by level of education. Prev Med. 1990; 19(1): 1–12.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Cubbin C, Marchi K, Lin M, et al. Is neighborhood deprivation independently associated with maternal and infant health? Evidence from Florida and Washington. Matern Child Health J. 2008; 12(1): 61–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Dibben C, Sigala M, Macfarlane A. Area deprivation, individual factors and low birth weight in England: is there evidence of an “area effect”? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2006; 60(12): 1053–1059.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Schaap MM, van Agt HM, Kunst AE. Identification of socioeconomic groups at increased risk for smoking in European countries: looking beyond educational level. Nicotine Tob Res. 2008; 10(2): 359–369.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, McDowell MA, Tabak CJ, Flegal KM. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999–2004. JAMA, J Am Med Assoc. 2006; 295(13): 1549–1555.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Singh GK, Kogan MD, van Dyck PC. A multilevel analysis of state and regional disparities in childhood and adolescent obesity in the United States. J Community Health. 2008; 33(2): 90–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Yancey AK, Kumanyika SK. Bridging the gap: understanding the structure of social inequities in childhood obesity. Am J Prev Med. 2007; 33(4 Suppl): S172–174.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Wang Y, Beydoun MA. The obesity epidemic in the United States—gender, age, socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and geographic characteristics: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Epidemiol Rev. 2007; 29: 6–28.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. National Center for Health Statistics, Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 2002 National Health Interview Survey. ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Survey_Questionnaires/NHIS/2002. Accessed September 22, 2004.

  28. Hollingshead A. Four Factor Index of Social Status. New Haven, CT: Yale University Department of Psychology; 1975.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Rieppi R, Greenhill LL, Ford RE, et al. Socieconomic status as a moderator of ADHD treatment outcomes. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2002; 41: 269–277.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Nakao KTJ. The 1989 Socioeconomic Index of Occupations: Construction from the 1989 Occupational Prestige Scores (General Social Survey Methodological Report No 74). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, National Opinion Research Center; 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Woodward J, Damon B. Housing Characteristics: 2000, Census 2000 Brief. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau; 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Kachigan SK. Statistical Analysis. New York, NY: Radius Press; 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Flynn PM, Foster EM, Brost BC. Indicators of Acculturation Related to Somali Refugee Women’s Birth Outcomes in Minnesota. J Immigrant Minority Health. 2009; 13: 224–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Schachter JP, Kuenzi JJ. Seasonality of Moves and the Duration and Tenure of Residence: 1996: The US Bureau of Census; October, 1998. P70-66; 1996.

Download references

Acknowledgment

We thank Juliette Liesinger and Heshan Lieu for data analysis support. We are indebted to county staff in the Rochester-Olmsted Planning Department in Olmsted County, Minnesota, and to Joan Pu, data analyst, and Dr. Mark Funkhouser, mayor, Office of the Mayor, Kansas City, Missouri. This work has been presented at the 2008 Pediatric Academic Society Annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii in May, 2008. This work was supported by a National Institutes of Health Grant (R21 HD51902) from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Young J. Juhn

  2. Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Timothy J. Beebe, Dawn M. Finnie & Jeff Sloan

  3. Rochester Olmsted Planning Department, Olmsted County, MN, USA

    Philip H. Wheeler

  4. Department of Research, Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester, MN, USA

    Barbara Yawn

  5. Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

    Arthur R. Williams

Authors
  1. Young J. Juhn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Timothy J. Beebe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dawn M. Finnie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jeff Sloan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Philip H. Wheeler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Barbara Yawn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Arthur R. Williams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Young J. Juhn.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Juhn, Y.J., Beebe, T.J., Finnie, D.M. et al. Development and Initial Testing of a New Socioeconomic Status Measure Based on Housing Data. J Urban Health 88, 933–944 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9572-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-011-9572-7

Keywords

  • Housing
  • Socioeconomic status
  • Neighborhood
  • Health
  • Epidemiology