New Directions in the Sociology of Aging (2013) / Chapter Skim
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11 The Loyal Opposition: A Commentary on "Opportunities and Challenges in the Study of Biosocial Dynamics in Healthy Aging"--Maxine Weinstein, Dana A. Glei, and Noreen Goldman
11 The Loyal Opposition: A Commentary on "Opportunities and Challenges in the Study of Biosocial Dynamics in Healthy Aging"--Maxine Weinstein, Dana A. Glei, and Noreen Goldman
Pages 243-254
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From page 243... ...
seek data that are likely to be compatible with the beliefs they currently hold." Here we sketch out a case for reconsidering the theoretical motivation for much of the recent biosocial survey efforts. We concentrate on just a few points.
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From page 244... ...
There is ongoing debate regarding whether the effects of SES on health are likely to increase with age -- as the advantages of higher status may accumulate throughout the life cycle -- or whether they are expected to decline -- as biological frailty dominates social influences and medical care becomes more widely accessible, for example, through Medicare for persons aged 65 and older in the United States (Dannefer, 2003; House et al., 1994)
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From page 245... ...
For example, historical data for the United States reveal few social class differences in child mortality in the late 19th century (e.g., the children of physicians had death rates close to the national average) , but, as health beliefs changed and knowledge of hygienic practices spread during subsequent decades, socioeconomic gradients in mortality widened (Preston and Haines, 1991)
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From page 246... ...
We have concerns about choice of biomarkers, dealing with complex interactions between genetic endowment and environment, the large numbers of pathways for which we would want biomarkers, and finally, we suspect that the physiological influences linking SES to health are comprised of huge numbers of potentially interactive effects, most of which are not observable or measurable. Other measurement issues range from determining how, when -- or how often -- to measure biomarkers to how to measure environmental influences, especially past environmental influences.
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From page 247... ...
and Taiwanese data provides little encouragement. We examined the relation between two components of social relationships -- perceived support and social integration -- and six inflammatory markers.
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From page 248... ...
If social disparities in allostatic load and in health outcomes reflect a differential burden of stress, it seems surprising to find so little social variation in these stress hormones, although we recognize the many measurement issues surrounding the collection of these markers. Whether the current battery of biomarkers actually mediates the relation between social conditions and health is an even more vexed question.
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From page 249... ...
The likelihood that null findings are underrepresented because of publication bias simply serves to underscore this point. Overall then, we have not done well at explaining the physiological pathways linking SES to health.
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From page 250... ...
-- a question also raised by Gruenewald. One might add assay comparability across time and place, the need for a developmental approach that incorporates exposure and health across the life course, and the various logistical and financial hurdles involved in incorporating welldesigned biomarker collection in population surveys.
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From page 251... ...
313) : Despite a justified appeal for international comparisons of social gradients in health that integrate biological mechanisms, such undertakings are gen erally unable to establish whether divergent findings reflect true variability in the physiological pathways linking SES to health across countries, regions, and time periods; differences across data sets in measurement er ror or definitions of biomarkers, SES and health outcomes; differences in analytic strategies; or differences in sample size.
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From page 252... ...
. Has the relation between income inequality and life expectancy disappeared?
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From page 253... ...
. Income inequality and mor tality: Importance to health of individual income, psychosocial environment, or material conditions.
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From page 254... ...
. The changing relation between education and life expectancy in central and eastern Europe in the 1990s.
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