Living arrangements and socioeconomic-based health disparities in Mexico

Abstract

Objective. To investigate the role living arrangements play in the co-dynamics of socioeconomic position and health in the latter part of life. Materials and methods. Based on longitudinal data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS), latent class analysis (LCA) and locally weighted regressions, in this article we estimate age trajectories to examine the degree to which wealth and health-related outcomes correlate with typical living arrangement dynamics. Results. Main results suggest a complex dynamic relationship between living arrangements and social inequalities in health, with important differences by sex, unlike mortality trends as they appear to diverge with differences in wealth regardless of household structure. Conclusions. Our methodological approach provides new insights regarding the likely effect household structure plays when analyzing the dynamics of social inequality. To date, this is the first longitudinal analysis to offer this kind of empirical evidence for the region.