Resource Guide

A specific charge of the Office on Socioeconomic Status (OSES) is to develop and facilitate relationships and activities to advance psychology as a major force in research, policy and advocacy related to socioeconomic status. One way to fulfill this charge is to collect and distribute SES-related information through the development and maintenance of an online resource guide. OSES has compiled journal articles, relevant websites, upcoming events, fact sheets and other publications that address socioeconomic status and related topics.

• Centers for Disease Control — Social Determinants of Health
  A basic overview that introduces the concept and defines the 'social determinants of health'. It also explores the political, social, and economic forces that intersect with it.
• Diversity Web — Research on Socioeconomic Status and Higher Education
  This serves as an interactive resource hub for higher education that provides recent research on SES.
• Pew Charitable Trust — Economic Mobility Project (EMP)
  EMP focuses on the ability to move up the income ladder from one generation to the next, how best to improve economic opportunity in the United States, making the American Dream possible for more. It’s a resource for examining factors such as SES at birth, race, gender, and ethnicity and how those factors influence the climb from poverty.
• MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health
  Multi-disciplinary network of scholars from various fields — including psychology — who have been working together for the last decade to “enhance understanding of the mechanisms by which SES factors affect the health of individuals and their communities through development of innovative research methods, creation of new data sets, novel findings, and identification of new concepts, hypotheses and directions for research.”
• RAND Population Research Center — Socioeconomic Status and Health
  Provides data and resources on disparities in adult and child health, population and the environment, health and educational outcomes in childhood, health of immigrants and research (re: Medicare).
• Spotlight on Poverty
  “A non-partisan initiative that brings together diverse perspectives from the political, policy, advocacy, and foundation communities to find genuine solutions to the economic hardship confronting millions of Americans. Through the ongoing exchange of ideas, research, and data, Spotlight seems to inform the policy debate about reducing poverty and increasing opportunity in the United States.”
• United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)
  USICH leads coordinated federal response to homelessness and fosters a national partnership at every level of government, including with the private sector, to end homelessness. Their website provides resource maps, policy descriptions, research and data on homelessness.

• University College London — Institute of Health Equity
  The Institute seeks to increase health equity through action on the social determinants of health, specifically in four areas: influencing global, national and local policies; advising and learning from practice, building the evidence base and capacity building.
• World Health Organization — Commission on Social Determinants of Health
  The Commission links to several fact sheets, publications, reports and key concept definitions pertaining to the global context of social determinants of health.

• Institute on Social Exclusion — Adler School of Professional Psychology
  “Seeks to analyze the ways in which structural features of society condition human welfare, stimulate public dialogue on the underlying causes of disadvantage and on possible solutions, and engage in practical work that sheds light on and addresses social marginalization.”

• Mental Health, Culture, and Community Research Program — Clark University
  “In US, well-documented mental healthcare disparities disproportionately affect individuals from low-income and cultural minority and backgrounds. Our lab’s mission is to help reduce these scientific and service utilization gaps through a combination of basic and applied research that focuses on urban, cultural minority children, adults, and families.”

• Psych Central
  Mental health and psychology network offering support groups, information and advocacy.

• National Institute of Mental Health
  Aims to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illness through basic and clinical research through innovative thinking and ensuring a full array of scientific perspectives are used.

• Reaching for a Healthier Life: Facts on Socioeconomic Status and Health (PDF, 928KB)
  MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health
• The Biology of Disadvantage: Socioeconomic Status and Health
  Annals of the New York Academy of Science, Volume 1186. Feb 2010.
• Center for American Progress — Elderly Poverty: The Challenge Before Us (PDF, 122KB)

• UNNATURAL CAUSES: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? (Documentary Clips)
  A production of California Newsreel & Vital Pictures, Inc. Broadcasted by PBS. Full-length documentary available for purchase by organizations, government agencies, and schools for educational use only.
• Looking Upstream: A presentation by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (PDF, 1.98MB)

• Healthy People 2020, US Department of Health & Human Services

• March 30-31, 2012
  National Conference on Health & Domestic Violence
  San Francisco, CA
• Apr. 6-9, 2012
  International Conference on: Global Perspectives on Justice, Security and Human Rights
  New York, NY
• Apr. 10, 2012
  National Health Promotion Summit
  Washington, D.C.
• May 4-5, 2012
  Global Conference on Education
  Ontario, CA
• May 16-18, 2012
  National Health Care for the Homeless Conference & Policy Symposium
  Kansas City, MO
• June 21-24, 2012
  “Changing Societies: Learning from and for Research, Social Action, and Policy”
  Ninth Biennial Conference of the Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues, APA Division 9
  Charlotte, NC
• July 22-27, 2012
  International AIDS Conference
  Washington, D.C.
• Oct. 27-31, 2012
  140th American Public Health Association Annual Meeting
  San Francisco, CA
• Oct. 31-Nov. 2, 2012
  2012 Summit on the Science of Eliminating Health Disparities
  National Harbor, MD
  Email

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars (Post-Doctoral)
  A post-doctoral program “designed to build the nation’s capacity for research, leadership, and policy change to address the multiple determinants of population health”

• APA Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) (Post-Doctoral)
  The APA MFP is an innovative, comprehensive and coordinated training and career development program that promotes psychological and behavioral outcomes of ethnic minority communities. MFP is committed to increasing the number of ethnic minority professionals in the field and enhancing our understanding of the life experiences of ethnic minority communities.

• Psychological perspectives on pathways linking socioeconomic status and physical health.
  Matthews, K., & Gallo, L.C.
  Annual Review of Psychology. Vol. 62: 501-530. Jan. 2011.

• Socioeconomic status and health: What we know and what we don’t. (PDF, 518KB)
  Adler, N.E. & Ostrove, J.M.
  Annals New York Academy of Sciences.

• The impact of socioeconomic status on the breast cancer journey.
  Lalani, Nafisha.
  Journal of Cancer Education. Vol.26(1), Mar 2011, pp. 200-201.

• The association between race and neighborhood socioeconomic status in younger black and white adults with chronic pain.
  Green, Carmen R; Hart-Johnson, Tamera.
  The Journal of Pain. Jan 2012, pp. No Pagination Specified.

• Emotions and physical health in the second half of life: Interindividual differences in age-related trajectories and dynamic associations according to socioeconomic status.
  Schollgen, Ina; Huxhold, Oliver; Schmiedek, Florian.
  Psychology and Aging. Dec 2011, pp. No Pagination Specified.

• Socioeconomic status updates. [References].
  Brooks, Brandon; Welser, Howard T; Hogan, Bernie; Titsworth, Scott.
  Information, Communication & Society. Vol.14(4), Jun 2011, pp. 529-549.

• Neighborhood socioeconomic status predictors of physical activity through young to middle adulthood: The CARDIA study. [References].
  Boone-Heinonen, Janne; Diez Roux, Ana V; Kiefe, Catarina I; Lewis, Cora E; Guilkey, David K; Gordon-Larsen, Penny.
  Social Science & Medicine. Vol.72(5), Mar 2011, pp. 641-649.

• Mediators of the relationship between socioeconomic status and allostatic load in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study (CHASRS). [References].
  Hawkley, Louise C; Lavelle, Leah A; Berntson, Gary G; Cacioppo, John T.
  Psychophysiology. Vol.48(8), Aug 2011, pp. 1134-1145.

• Socioeconomic status and survival after an invasive breast cancer diagnosis. [References].
  Sprague, Brian L; Trentham-Dietz, Amy; Gangnon, Ronald E; Ramchandani, Ritesh; Hampton, John M; Robert, Stephanie A; Remington, Patrick L; Newcomb, Polly A.
  Cancer. Vol.117(7), Apr 2011, pp. 1542-1551.

• Health Equity Matters, Office on Minority Health & Health Equity
  United States Department of Health & Human Services