Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

While some studies have demonstrated that psychosocial problems resulting from economic inequality are negatively associated with health, others have found null effects pertaining to income inequality. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) this study aims to analyze whether the level of income inequality in school during adolescence affects an inflammation biomarker (hs-CRP) in early adulthood. Preliminary results demonstrate that one measure of the relative deprivation (the Yitzhaki index) and the two structural inequality measures (the Gini and 50/10 ratio) at Wave 1 are significant predictors of the level of inflammation at Wave 4. That is, relative deprivation and structural inequality during adolescence have long-term impacts on the inflammation biomarker in early adulthood. This study can contribute to the body of inequality-health research by incorporating the life course perspective and examining the potential factors associated with these mixed observations.