Comparing Relative Effects of Education and Economic Resources on Infant Mortality in Developing Countries

摘要

Research linking socioeconomic status and health has been accumulating for over a century. For much of this time, the focus has been on individuals' social status-as reflected by their education, occupation, income, or wealth-acting as a fundamental determinant of health by influencing many intermediate factors (Link and Phelan 1995; Adler et al. 1994). This focus on socioeconomic status as a unified concept may well have resulted from the recognition that the indicators or components of social status were not only correlated with each other, but generally demonstrated similar associations with health outcomes (Antonovsky 1967; Bollen, Glanville, and Stecklov 2001; Liberates, Link, andKelsey 1988).