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Social Class and Child Health: Our Complexity Complex

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Families and Child Health

Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI))

Abstract

Reichman and Teitler (Chap. 9) review the complex literature on social class and child health and find ample evidence of consistent associations, operating through multiple pathways that arise early in life and compound over the life course. They conclude, as do most such reviews, that the relationship between social class and child health is complex and that much is still unknown. This reflects what I describe as a complexity complex that impedes effective research and intervention. In this commentary, I make three main points: (1) we lack an adequate theory of social class gradients in children’s health as well as a coherent understanding of what a good theory is and how it can be used, (2) the perception of inscrutable complexity is partly a function of the lack of fit between social class as an explanatory concept and currently accepted ideas about what constitutes a cause, and (3) the failure to explain the social class clustering of health behaviors and risk factors is partly a function of our inability to account for the role of culture.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Thomas A. Glass Ph.D.

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  1. Thomas A. Glass Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Thomas A. Glass Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Nancy S. Landale , Susan M. McHale  & Alan Booth ,  & 

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Glass, T.A. (2013). Social Class and Child Health: Our Complexity Complex. In: Landale, N., McHale, S., Booth, A. (eds) Families and Child Health. National Symposium on Family Issues. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6194-4_11

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