Socioeconomic Factors and the Black-white Difference in C-reactive Protein: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

• In Event: 569 - Regular Session. Medical Sociology

Abstract

The present paper explores multiple indicators of socioeconomic status that may uniquely contribute to elevations in C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older Black and White adults. Prior work consistently shows that CRP levels are higher in Blacks relative to Whites; a primary contribution to the unequal distribution may be differences in socioeconomic factors. An analytic sample consisting of 3,746 respondents was drawn from the 2006 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore the independent and simultaneous contribution of parent education, respondent education, net assets, and total household income to CRP levels in the total sample and in analyses stratified by race. An Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was then conducted to examine the extent to which each factor contributed to the CRP difference in Black and White adults. The study found that each of the four indices of socioeconomic status had significant protective effects against elevations in CRP for Whites, but not for Blacks, and that these factors accounted for roughly 25% of the difference in CRP levels between Black and White adults. These analyses suggest that socioeconomic factors play a significant role in producing racial disparities in health, but there are important factors that remain to be explored (e.g., stress exposure and stress vulnerability).

Authors

• Heather R Collins-Farmer, Penn State Unviersity

• Linda A. Wray, Pennsylvania State University

• Duane F. Alwin, Pennsylvania State Univ.