The relationship between life expectancy and socioeconomic status in Arkansas: 1970 and 1990

Life Expectancy at Birth is estimated for county populations in Arkansas in 1970, 1980 and 1990. Counties are grouped into quintiles at each time point according to the percent of persons below the poverty level. Comparisons are made between mean life expectancy in the highest and lowest socioeconomic group at each point in time as well as between the same group at 1970 and 1990. It is hypothesized that the high socioeconomic populations will experience an increase in mean life expectancy over the low socioeconomic populations between 1970 and 1990. Statistical analysis supports the hypothesis. These findings conform to those from earlier research in Ohio and may reflect a continuing deterioration in the relative standard of living of lower income groups in the United States subsequent to 1970.