Pioneering scholarship links retrospective childhood conditions to mature adult health. We distinctively provide critical evidence with prospective state-of-the-art measures of parent income observed multiple times during childhood in the 1970s to 1990s. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we analyze six health outcomes (self-rated health, heart attack, stroke, life-threatening chronic conditions, non-life-threatening chronic conditions, and psychological distress) among 40- to 65-year-olds. Parent relative income rank has statistically and substantively significant relationships with five of six outcomes. The relationships with heart attack, stroke, and life-threatening chronic conditions are particularly strong. Parent income rank performs slightly better than alternative prospective and retrospective measures. At the same time, we provide novel validation on which retrospective measures (i.e., father’s education) perform almost as well as prospective measures. Furthermore, we inform several perennial debates about how relative versus absolute income and other measures of socioeconomic status and social class influence health.

开创性的学术研究将回顾性的童年状况与成熟的成人健康联系起来。我们通过在 20 世纪 70 年代至 90 年代儿童时期多次观察到的父母收入前瞻性衡量标准，提供了独特的关键证据。使用收入动态小组研究，我们分析了 40 至 65 岁人群的六种健康结果（自评健康状况、心脏病发作、中风、危及生命的慢性病、非危及生命的慢性病和心理困扰）。老人。父母相对收入排名与六项结果中的五项具有统计上和实质性的显着关系。与心脏病、中风和危及生命的慢性病的关系尤其密切。父母收入排名的表现略好于其他前瞻性和回顾性指标。同时，我们提供了新颖的验证，证明回顾性措施（即父亲的教育程度）几乎与前瞻性措施一样有效。此外，我们还提供了一些关于相对收入与绝对收入以及其他社会经济地位和社会阶层衡量标准如何影响健康的长期辩论。