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KMID : 0904520200550010137
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Health and Medical Sociology
2020 Volume.55 No. 1 p.137 ~ p.163
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How does social class modify the relationship between environmental pollution and health?
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Shin Hee-Ju
Paik Myung-Ho
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Abstract
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The purpose of this study is to examine the role of social class in the health effects of cadmium and to show that environmental pollution has a hierarchical effects on people's health. The analysis uses the second year data (2017) of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) VII, with a total of 1,855 observations included, and the OLS regression is applied. The results are as follows. 1) There are significant differences in blood cadmium level and subjective health among income groups. As income levels rise, cadmium level tends to decrease, and subjective health tends to rise. 2) The health effects of cadmium concentration vary by social class controlling for all key variables, but there is no significant relationship between cadmium level and health condition in high-income group. This is because physical living environment and stress experienced by the low-income people increase their susceptibility of environment-related diseases than the high-income people. 3) The effects of health behavior remain most consistent among variable groups, indicating that the health effects of cadmium are largely mediated by healthy lifestyles or living conditions. These results are meaningful in that there have been few studies about how cadmium level interacts with social classes in predicting health, and that persistent and repeated experiences of social injustice may act as a permanent health hazard for socially disadvantaged people.
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KEYWORD
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Environmental pollution, Cadmium, Susceptibility, Social class, Subjective health
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