Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10502969 | Health & Place | 2009 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
Much research into health behaviour and outcomes involves evaluating compositional and contextual hypotheses: the former suggest that behaviour/outcomes are a function of the individual's characteristics alone, whereas the latter argue for the importance of contextual/environmental influences. Wilkinson has presented a contextual argument relating inter-country variations in mortality rates to income inequalities; Gravelle has countered this arguing that Wilkinson's findings are a statistical artefact and that a compositional approach, relating mortality to individual income, is sufficient. Discriminating between these two cases requires a methodology combining the two approaches. Multi-level modelling is proposed and applied to two data sets. The results sustain Gravelle's case, emphasising the role of compositional rather than contextual variables in accounting for inter-country variations in health status.
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Authors
Min Hua Jen, Kelvyn Jones, Ron Johnston,