Socioeconomic Status and Health Well-Being during Later Life: Potential Mediating Factors

This study explores the socioeconomic status (SES)-perceived health association, with special attention on living arrangements. It improves upon existing explanations of causal mechanisms underlying the impact of SES on health among the elderly. Using Health and Retirement Study to run ordered logistic regression, it addresses the importance of living arrangements for self-reported health. Income and education are both important predictors of self-reported health and that after controlling them, living arrangements also affect self-reported health. Future research should highlight nuanced measures of living arrangements and should explore longitudinal analyses to determine the long-term effects of these factors on self-reported health.