Recorded presentation

Catherine Cubbin, PhD, Paula A. Braveman, MD, MPH, Kristen S. Marchi, MPH, and Susan A. Egerter, PhD. Center on Social Disparities in Health, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Avenue, MU-3 East, Box 0900, San Francisco, CA 94143-0900, 415-502-8565, ccubbin@itsa.ucsf.edu

Background: The extent to which socioeconomic status/position (“SES”) contributes to racial/ethnic disparities in injuries is difficult to assess without adequate measurement of SES. SES appears throughout the injury literature but is rarely defined. Diverse measures are used, generally without justifying the measure(s) selected. Often a single domain is measured in the U.S., typically income or education. Race/ethnicity is often considered an independent risk factor for injury in after controlling for measures of SES, without considering other unmeasured socioeconomic factors.

Purpose: To inform how SES is conceptualized and measured in research on racial/ethnic disparities in injuries and recommend improved approaches.

Methods: A conceptual framework for the consideration of SES factors in studies of racial/ethnic disparities will be offered. Drawing upon past and current work, the presentation will discuss issues related to measurement (i.e., dimensions [income vs. education], specification [continuous vs. categorical measures and, if the latter, how categorized], level [individual, household, neighborhood], timing [infancy, childhood, current]) and interpretation of SES in injury research, particularly related to conclusions regarding racial/ethnic disparities.

Conclusions: Multiple measures are needed to reflect SES multi-dimensional nature. Researchers should select SES measures based on considering likely explanatory pathways, not mechanically. Researchers should acknowledge the limitations of their SES measures. Literature claiming to have controlled for SES despite limited SES measurement should be reassessed. Recommendations on the use of SES measures in routine data sources, on SES measurement in primary data collection efforts, and on the interpretation of socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities will also be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate measures of SES in studies of racial/ethnic disparities.
• Identify measures of SES that can be used in primary data collection efforts.

Keywords: Social Inequalities, Minorities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation