Socioeconomic Positions and Midlife Health Trajectories in a Changing Social Context: Evidence from China, 1991–2006

Abstract

Cumulative (dis)advantage theory posits that socioeconomic disparities in health may increase with age. This study examines individuals’ midlife health trajectories, taking account of how their life courses are embedded within changing social contexts. Using the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1991–2006), it examines the health gap between Chinese rural peasants and urban nonpeasants in three adjacent time periods, during which a rapid process of social change increased the inequalities between rural and urban areas. Findings show that the health gap increases more rapidly in the more recent time periods, with higher levels of inequality, indicating that health inequalities between the two groups are contingent upon the social contexts in which individuals’ lives unfold. To better understand the differences observed over these time periods, further analysis will examine the roles of two structural factors: income inequality and differential access to medical care.

Education and age trajectories of chronic conditions: Are tests of the cumulative advantage and disadvantage hypothesis biased by underreporting?

“…Applied to the relationship between education and health, the CAD predicts an intracohort increase in health differences between people with lower and higher levels of education (Ross and Wu, 1996;Mirowsky & Ross, 2008;Willson et al, 2007;Yang et al, 2021). Many studies support this population-level prediction (Chen et al, 2010;Kim, 2008;Leopold, 2016;Mirowsky & Ross, 2008;Willson et al, 2007) although conflicting findings of stable or decreasing differences exist (House et al, 2005;Sieber et al, 2020;Zhao, 2023).…”