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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Changkeun Han, School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brooking Drive Campus Box 1196, St. Louis, MO 63130, 314-775-4753, ckhan@wustl.edu

There is substantial evidence that life satisfaction and socioeconomic inequality have significant effects on health status (For life satisfaction, see Riley, 1968; Palmore & Luikart, 1972 and for socioeconomic status see Alwin & Wray, 2005; Krieger, Williams, & Moss, 1997; Ram, 2005). However, there is no study examining how time-varying life satisfaction and socioeconomic status are related to changing health status. This study investigates how changes of life satisfaction and socioeconomic status are related to health status change using longitudinal growth curve modeling (LGCM).

Sample (N=840) of this study is low income households. This primary data were collected at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Health and life satisfaction are self-rated measures. Income and net worth are key variables to measure socioeconomic status. LISREL 8.52 was used to analyze the LGCM.

Controlling for age, gender, race and education, life-satisfaction has stronger relationships with health status than socioeconomic status (X2 = 136.14 df=44 p<.001; RMSEA= 0.044). Respectively, the level and the slope of life satisfaction are positively related to the level and the slope of health status. Contrarily, the levels and the slopes of socioeconomic status measured by income and wealth have weak effects on health status.

Consistent with the previous research and theory, this study found that the more satisfied tend to be healthier. Health practitioners should pay more attention to how to increase life satisfaction. However, it should be noted that homogeneous sample and measurement level of the key variables may cause the weak effects of socioeconomic status on the health.

Learning Objectives:

• I can learn how to present appropriately, how to communicate with the attendees, how to organize presentations or posters, how different perspectives can be related to my perspective.
• I can learn how to define and construct research questions, how to articulate them, how to assess them, and how to discuss and evaluate my results in a effective way.
• At the conclusion of the session, I in this session will recognize how much life satisfaction will affect health status. In addition, to increase health status, not only economic status but also life satisfaction should be recognized as key factors affecting health status and changes.

Keywords: Health, Low-Income

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered