Socioeconomic status and all-cause mortality: Testing life course hypotheses in New Zealand

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to be related to mortality in a range of contexts. Low SES tends to increase mortality risk, but how exposure patterns across the life-course are related to mortality is not well understood, and have not been explored in the New Zealand context. This research uses New Zealand longitudinal census datato explore whether there is evidence of associations between mortality and cumulative exposure to low SES (accumulation hypothesis), changes in SES between life stages (social mobility hypothesis) and exposure to low SES during specific life stages (sensitive period hypothesis). Understanding these hypotheses in the New Zealand context may allow for better-targetted interventions to address mortality inequalities, for example, disparities between ethnic groups.