Abstract: A large and increasing body of evidence reveals the role of social factors in shaping health and mortality. Studies found an important social gradient in health and mortality: across education, income, race, marital status, etc. Most studies, however, focus on one or two determinants. Only considering one determinants of health cannot capture the large lifespan inequalities observed. To better understand inequalities in lifespan, we here investigate lifespan differences for subpopulations based on multiple determinants of health: sex, race, marital status and education in the United States. We analyze partial life expectancy between age 30 and 90 across 36 subpopulations. We found a 17.7-year difference between the minimum and maximum partial life expectancy across subpopulations. In addition, we found that no one determinants bring a clear advantage to all individuals equally and that a detrimental characteristic can be offset by a good one.
The meeting will be held in person at Social Sciences meeting room M (V17-109a-2) and online via Zoom.