The Role of Social Activity in the Association Between Socioeconomic Status and Physical Health in Tehran University of Medical Sciences Employees` Cohort Study: A Structural Equation Modeling Publisher



Mehravar F¹ ; Rahimiforoushani A^{1, 2} ; Vakili MA³ ; Nedjat S^{1, 4} Show Affiliations
Source: International Journal of Health Promotion and Education Published:2022

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) is often considered a major predictor of health outcomes. This study aimed to determine the role of social activity in the association between SES and physical health among Tehran University of Medical Sciences Employees’ Cohort (TEC) study. In this cross-sectional design, we used the data of the enrolment phase of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) cohort study on 4461 employees. The latent variable of this study was the composite SES-index, which is a combination of assets, social activities, and education. A self-reporting questionnaire was used to measure the physical health conditions of the respondents. The relationship between variables was examined using the structural equation modeling (SEM) in STATA-14. The results showed that 2706 respondents (60.65%) were female and the mean age of all participants was 42.29 years (SD = 8.71, range: 19 to 74). The SEM results showed that the composite SES-index had a significant effect on physical health (β = −0.21, SE = 0.017, p < 0.001, 95٪ CI = [−0.25 to −0.18]). Physical health also exhibited the greatest association with the social activity index (β = −0.18, SE = 0.014, p < 0.001, 95٪ CI = [−0.21 to −0.15]). In addition, the social activities, assets, and education explained 53%, 50%, and 43% of the estimated variance of the composite SES-index, respectively. This study demonstrated that the social activity index could be one of the best proxy indicators of objective SES when we intend to assess the association between SES and physical health. © 2022 Institute of Health Promotion and Education.