Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Mar;40(2):251-61.
doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsu089. Epub 2014 Oct 15.

Province-level income inequality and health outcomes in Canadian adolescents

Elizabeth C Quon  1 , Jennifer J McGrath  2
Affiliations

Province-level income inequality and health outcomes in Canadian adolescents

Elizabeth C Quon et al. J Pediatr Psychol. 2015 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the effects of provincial income inequality (disparity between rich and poor), independent of provincial income and family socioeconomic status, on multiple adolescent health outcomes.

Methods: Participants (aged 12-17 years; N = 11,899) were from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Parental education, household income, province income inequality, and province mean income were measured. Health outcomes were measured across a number of domains, including self-rated health, mental health, health behaviors, substance use behaviors, and physical health.

Results: Income inequality was associated with injuries, general physical symptoms, and limiting conditions, but not associated with most adolescent health outcomes and behaviors. Income inequality had a moderating effect on family socioeconomic status for limiting conditions, hyperactivity/inattention, and conduct problems, but not for other outcomes.

Conclusions: Province-level income inequality was associated with some physical and mental health outcomes in adolescents, which has research and policy implications for this age-group.

Keywords: adolescents; disparities; health behavior; mental health; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Effects of parental education on (a) hyperactivity/inattention and (b) limiting conditions are presented by income inequality tertiles (low, medium, and high).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Braveman P A, Cubbin C, Egerter S, Williams D R, Pamuk E. Socioeconomic disparities in health in the United States: What the patterns tell us. American Journal of Public Health. 2010;100:S186–S196. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bryk A S, Raudenbush S W. Application of hierarchical linear models to assessing change. Psychological Bulletin. 1987;101:147–158.
    1. Celeste R K, Nadanovsky P, Ponce de Leon A, Fritzell J. The individual and contextual pathways between oral health and income inequality in Brazilian adolescents and adults. Social Science and Medicine. 2009;69:1468–1475. - PubMed
    1. Chen E, Martin A D, Matthews K A. Socioeconomic status and health: Do gradients differ within childhood and adolescence? Social Science and Medicine. 2006;62:2161–2170. - PubMed
    1. Conference Board of Canada. How Canada performs: Income inequality. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/income-inequality.aspx.

Publication types