Exploring Pathways between Socioeconomic Status and Physical Health in Childhood

Low socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most robust risk factors for a variety of diseases throughout the lifespan across both countries with and without universal health care.  For example, asthma is the most common chronic illness in childhood, and children who are lower in SES are at greater risk for more severe exacerbations of asthma.  Despite this widely acknowledged epidemiological phenomenon, the psychobiological mechanisms underlying this relationship have been less well-understood.  This talk will provide an overview of our laboratory’s approach to testing the biological pathways that link the larger social environment to physical health outcomes in childhood, using asthma as one example.  It will also discuss pathways at the individual, family, and neighborhood levels that we have explored in an effort to understand how broad social environments affect individuals and their health.