Key Citations:
1. Braveman, Paula, et al. “Issue Brief #4 Exploring the Social Determinants of Health – April 2011; Income, Wealth and Health” (2011). Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
2. Bhatia, Rajiv and Mitchell Katz. “Estimation of Health Benefits from a Local Living Wage Ordinance” (2001). American Journal of Public Health.
3. Pickett, K.E. and M. Pearl. “Multilevel analyses of neighbourhood socioeconomic context and health outcomes: a critical review” (2001). Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
4. Pollack, C.E., et al. “Should Health Studies Measure Wealth?” (2007). American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
5. Subramanian, S.V. and Ichiro Kawachi. “Income Inequality and Health: What Have We Learned So Far?” (2004). Epidemiologic Reviews, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Public Assisted Households
Income is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of health and disease in public health research. There are several safety nets administered by the federal government. The Public Assisted Household indicator accounts for these safety nets by measuring the proportion of neighborhood households that receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), cash public assistance, and/or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits , also commonly referred to as food stamps, to support their income. Studies show that households not earning a self-sufficient wage may be subject to increases in premature death from all causes for working adults, lower educational outcomes, and a higher risk of premature childbirth. Self-sufficiency is considered as having an income high enough to meet basic needs without public subsidies such as public housing, food stamps, Medicaid or childcare, or the private market, or informal networks. The higher the number of neighborhood households dependent on public assistance, the lower the likelihood household incomes reach a self-sufficient standard. Although posted under the Employment Opportunities domain, the Public Assisted Households indicator is also strongly tied to the Educational Opportunities, Economic Health, Neighborhood Characteristics, and Housing domains. Data for the Public Assisted Households indicator is available from the U.S. Census.