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Do social relations explain health inequalities? Evidence from a longitudinal survey in a changing eastern German
Jens Klein1, Nico Vonneilich, Sebastian E Baumeister
1Department of Medical Sociology and Health Economics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. j.klein@uke.uni-hamburg.de
Objectives:
This study explores the contribution of social relations to explain inequalities in self-rated health in a changing north-eastern German region. So far, there are only few studies that analysed the mediating effects of social relations in a longitudinal design.
Methods:
We used data from the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) consisting of 3,300 randomly selected men and women at baseline (2001), and at the 5-year follow-up (2006). Indicators of social inequality were education, equivalent household income and occupational status. Social relations were estimated by the Social Integration Index (SII) and the perceived instrumental and emotional support. Self-rated general health was assessed at both waves of data collection.
Results:
Depending on the indicators used, social relations explain up to 35% of the inequalities in self-rated health. Changes in odds ratios are slightly more pronounced when education and income are used as inequality indicator and when adjusting for the SII.
Conclusions:
Overall findings suggest that social relations are an important explanatory factor for health inequalities in a deprived German region.
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