TY - JOUR
T1 - Trends in U.S. Population Health
T2 - The Central Role of Policies, Politics, and Profits
AU - Montez, Jennifer Karas
AU - Hayward, Mark D.
AU - Zajacova, Anna
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© American Sociological Association 2021.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Recent trends in U.S. health have been mixed, with improvements among some groups and geographic areas alongside declines among others. Medical sociologists have contributed to the understanding of those disparate trends, although important questions remain. In this article, we review trends since the 1980s in key indicators of U.S. health and weigh evidence from the last decade on their causes. To better understand contemporary trends in health, we propose that commonly used conceptual frameworks, such as social determinants of health, should be strengthened by prominently incorporating commercial, political-economic, and legal determinants. We illustrate how these structural determinants can provide new insights into health trends, using disparate health trajectories across U.S. states as an example. We conclude with suggestions for future research: focusing on structural causes of health trends and inequalities, expanding interdisciplinary perspectives, and integrating methods better equipped to handle the complexity of causal processes driving health trends and inequalities.
AB - Recent trends in U.S. health have been mixed, with improvements among some groups and geographic areas alongside declines among others. Medical sociologists have contributed to the understanding of those disparate trends, although important questions remain. In this article, we review trends since the 1980s in key indicators of U.S. health and weigh evidence from the last decade on their causes. To better understand contemporary trends in health, we propose that commonly used conceptual frameworks, such as social determinants of health, should be strengthened by prominently incorporating commercial, political-economic, and legal determinants. We illustrate how these structural determinants can provide new insights into health trends, using disparate health trajectories across U.S. states as an example. We conclude with suggestions for future research: focusing on structural causes of health trends and inequalities, expanding interdisciplinary perspectives, and integrating methods better equipped to handle the complexity of causal processes driving health trends and inequalities.
KW - commercial
KW - inequalities
KW - legal
KW - political
KW - trends
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115099160&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85115099160&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/00221465211015411
DO - 10.1177/00221465211015411
M3 - Article
C2 - 34528482
AN - SCOPUS:85115099160
SN - 0022-1465
VL - 62
SP - 286
EP - 301
JO - Journal of health and social behavior
JF - Journal of health and social behavior
IS - 3
ER -