Social class, health and aging: socioeconomic determinants of self-reported morbidity among the noninstitutionalized elderly in Canada.

Despite the vast amount of literature on the relationship between social class and health, little work has been done on postretirement populations. Using the 1991 General Social Survey, a sample of respondents (N = 1,943) aged 65 to 99 were selected for analysis. Three social class variables, income adequacy, education and occupation, were used along with several lifestyle variables and demographic controls to predict six different measures of health status. The findings supported a "condition-specific" approach to the study of class differences in morbidity. Income adequacy was the most consistent class predictor of these health measures in this sample. As well, 'risky' lifestyle variables were used to test the hypothesis that such factors may mediate the relationship between class and health. This hypothesis was not well supported in these data.