Improving the Epidemiological Understanding of the Dynamic Relationship Between Life Course Financial Well-Being and Health

• Published in: Current epidemiology reports Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 28 - 33
• Main Authors: Swift, Samuel L., Bailey, Zinzi, Al Hazzouri, Adina Zeki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.03.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Epidemiology; Health policy; Income; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Public health; Section Editor; Social Epidemiology (A Aiello; Topical Collection on Social Epidemiology; Social determinants of health; Financial well-being; Epidemiological methods; Income
• ISSN: 2196-2995; 2196-2995
• DOI: 10.1007/s40471-019-0181-4

Purpose of Review We posit that there are many different measures of financial well-being such as income, debt, assets, and wealth, which may have different consequences for health at different times in the life course. We frame our discussion of financial well-being within existing theories and mechanisms by which financial well-being may influence health. Recent Findings We contrast the influences of “snap shot” or one point in time measures of financial well-being with those of repeated measures of financial well-being across the life course. Reviewing recent research, we show the importance of measures apart from income in understanding how financial well-being influences health. Summary We argue that because financial well-being is multidimensional, the salient effect of financial well-being on health may not be captured by only focusing on singular aspects of this construct. We believe that there is an impetus on epidemiologists to embrace the multidimensionality of financial well-being, which will, in turn, improve public health practice and inform health policy in a more consequentialist manner.