Understanding the SES gradient in health among the elderly: The role of childhood circumstances

Individuals’ socioeconomic status (SES) is positively correlated
with their health status. While the existence of this gradient may
be uncontroversial, the same cannot be said about its explanation.
In this paper, we extend the approach of testing for the absence of
causal channels developed by Adams et al. (2003), which in a
Granger causality sense promises insights on the causal structure
of the health-SES nexus. We introduce some methodological
refinements and integrate retrospective survey data on early
childhood circumstances into this framework. We confirm that
childhood health has lasting predictive power for adult health. We
also uncover strong gender differences in the intertemporal
transmission of SES and health: While the link between SES and
functional as well as mental health among men appears to be
established rather late in life, the gradient among women seems to
originate from childhood circumstances.