Understanding associations among race, socioeconomic status, and health: Patterns and prospects.
Open accessAbstract
Race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES) are social categories that capture differential exposure to conditions of life that have health consequences. Race/ethnicity and SES are linked to each other, but race matters for health even after SES is considered. This commentary considers the complex ways in which race combines with SES to affect health. There is a need for greater attention to understanding how risks and resources in the social environment are systematically patterned by race, ethnicity and SES, and how they combine to influence cardiovascular disease and other health outcomes. Future research needs to examine how the levels, timing and accumulation of institutional and interpersonal racism combine with other toxic exposures, over the life-course, to influence the onset and course of illness. There is also an urgent need for research that seeks to build the science base that will identify the multilevel interventions that are likely to enhance the health of all, even while they improve the health of disadvantaged groups more rapidly than the rest of the population so that inequities in health can be reduced and ultimately eliminated. We also need sustained research attention to identifying how to build the political support to reduce the large shortfalls in health. (PsycINFO Database Record
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The U.S. leads other middle- and high-income countries in both real and perceived healthcare disparities.
“This is a major concern globally and especially in the U.S., which already leads other middle-and high-income countries in both real and perceived healthcare disparities69,70.”
From Clinical use of current polygenic risk scores may exacerbate health disparities (2019) · cites this paper as [70]
The opening section describes poorer quality of care for racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. and globally. It does not say the U.S. leads middle- and high-income countries in healthcare disparities or compare perceived disparities across countries. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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- Authors
- Williams, D. R., Priest, N., & Anderson, N. B.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Australian National University (AU)
- American Psychological Association (US)
- Venue
- Health Psychology
- Published
- 2016-04
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 407-411
- ISSN
- 0278-6133 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-7810
- PMC
- PMC4817358
- OpenAlex
- W2325781243
- Cited by
- 1,147
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 74 · 2025: 114 · 2024: 119 · 2023: 163 · 2022: 172 · 2021: 132 · 2020: 161 · 2019: 102 · 2018: 69 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 7 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 92.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Health Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (P50 CA 148596)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Health › Public Health and Social Inequalities
- Keywords
- race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, health disparities, intersectionality, cardiovascular disease, institutional racism, interpersonal racism, toxic exposure, life course, multilevel interventions, social determinants of health
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cardiovascular Diseases, Humans, Middle Aged, Social Class, Racial Groups, Health Status Disparities, Racism
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