Racial/ethnic differences in the relationship between wealth and health across young adulthood

Background: Although the relationship between socioeconomic position (SEP) and health has been well docu-mented, very few prior investigations have examined the time-varying association between wealth and health across race/ethnicity. This study examined the racial/ethnic differences in the wealth-health associations during young adulthood.Method: Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 with three time points, when respondents were aged 20, 25, and 30. The primary dependent variable was dichotomized self-rated health (SRH). Two indices of wealth were calculated: respondents' own reported net worth and reported parental net worth in 1997. Other SEP indicators included household income, education, employment status, and parental education. Three racial/ethnic groups were examined: nonHispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic. Two-level logistic regression was performed, stratified by race/ethnicity.Results: In the whole-sample analysis, racial/ethnic differences in SRH were not statistically significant, after controlling for wealth. For self-reported net worth during young adulthood, wealth has a incremental consistent effect on health among non-Hispanic White respondents and Hispanic respondents but not among Black re-spondents. Individual net worth and parental net worth were only significantly associated with health among the highest wealth quartiles among non-Hispanic Black respondents. Only individual net worth, not parental net worth, was significantly associated with SRH in the Hispanic sample.Conclusion: This study examined racial/ethnic differences in time-varying relationship between wealth and health during young adulthood. Findings indicate that there are notable racial/ethnic differences in the patterning of wealth-health association that appear to emerge in early adulthood. Implications for asset-based policy and programs are discussed.