Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 10879 CHAPTER 4 | CROSS-NATIONAL HEALTH DISPARITIES AND US DISADVANTAGE pollution and cognitive function. Older adults living in areas with higher concentrations of particulate matter (a measure of air pollution), have worse cognitive function, especially episodic memory. A similar set of studies evaluates the effect of neighborhood characteristics on depressive symptoms in urban settings. In urban residents over age 70, depressive symptoms are signifi- cantly associated with residential stability (Aneshensel et al. 2007). A second study exam- ines associations between urban neighborhood characteristics and changes over time in late-life depressive symptoms (Wight et al. 2009). After accounting for personal characteristics, change in depressive symptoms is significantly associated with neighborhood disadvantage. Childhood Influences on Later Life Health The negative impact of disadvantaged life con- ditions on health can begin long before health problems arise in adulthood. Indeed, both socio- economic circumstances and health in childhood may set the stage for health in adulthood. Several studies use the HRS to explore the effect of childhood socioeconomic disadvantage on a range of health outcomes. Moody-Ayers et al. (2007) use HRS information from 1998 to consider the influence of childhood SES on self-re- ported health status. Childhood SES includes parental education and two measures of HRS partici- pants’ perception of their family’s financial status when they were growing up. The first asks, “While you were growing up, before age 16, did financial difficulties ever cause you or your family to move to a different place?” Another question asks, “Now think about your family when you were growing up, from birth to age 16. Would you say your family during that time was pretty well off financially, about average, or poor?” Poor childhood SES is associated with worse adult health, even considering the impact of adult SES. Parental education has the largest impact. Interestingly, these effects tend to diminish with age and are not present for Hispanics. Another study supports this finding. Childhood health and SES impact chronic health trajectories for both African American and White respondents. The negative health effects of poor childhood health and disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions are higher for women than for men (Basu 2015). Other studies explore effects of childhood socioeconomic conditions on specific chronic health conditions. Hamil-Luker and O’Rand (2007) use HRS data to investigate childhood SES and risk of heart attack be- tween 1992 and 2002. This study uses a larger set of measures to represent childhood SES including mother’s education, father’s occupation, family’s financial status, needing to move because of financial difficulties, needing to receive help from relatives, father’s extended unemployment, and father’s absence. A significant gender difference emerges. Childhood SES has no impact on the risk of heart attack in men. For women, how- ever, growing up without a father and/or under adverse economic conditions confers a significant risk for heart attack over 10 years of follow-up. An important question is whether the impact of childhood SES has a direct impact on adult health or whether it affects adult health primarily through its effect on adult SES. Nandi et al. (2012) use parental education, father’s occupation, region of birth, and childhood rural residence to indicate childhood SES, while using For women, growing up without a father and/or under adverse economic conditions confers a significant risk for heart attack over 10 years of follow-up. Both socioeconomic circumstances and health in childhood may set the stage for health in adulthood.