Gender differences in the effects of family socioeconomic status on health in Korea

Previous studies aiming to discover whether health differs systematically by gender have returned inconclusive results, with some suggesting that women’s health is worse than men’s and others suggesting that there are no consistent differences. However, most such studies have focussed on developed countries. This study attempts to address the shortage of developing country studies, by asking whether there are systematic gender differences in health in South Korea and, if so, how they interact with indicators of socioeconomic status.

It uses data from a 1998 survey of around 12,000 households. Survey questions covered socioeconomic status, disease and disability status, and (for a randomly selected smaller sample) a number of more in-depth health questions.

Its main findings are that:

• the health status of women was worse than that of men in terms of number of diseases, difficulty in daily living activities (disability) amongst those aged 60 and older, and self-rated general health
• although some of those observed differences can be explained by differences in socioeconomic status between men and women, gender gaps in disease status remain strong even after controlling for socioeconomic variables
• the main reason that women aged 60 and older are more affected by disability than men appears to be that the female population is older and more likely to be unmarried; socioeconomic differences also contribute to the gender gap
• after controlling for age and socioeconomic status, disability was lower amongst women than men, both for those aged 30-59 and those aged 60 and older
• education, and to a lesser extent occupation, are the major determinants of women’s health outcomes, suggesting that education bolsters women’s positions in society and in the family
• the husband’s socioeconomic status and education appeared to have little or no independent effect on women’s health, although family income had consistently strong effects
• conversely, however, the wife’s socioeconomic status was an important determinant of men’s health; but there is little evidence on the mechanism through which this effect could be working
• the effects of socioeconomic status were generally weaker among the older age group (60 and older) than among the younger sample (30-59)
• working in the agricultural sector appears to be detrimental to the health of women and their husbands.