Comparisons of individual- and area-level socioeconomic status as proxies for individual-level measures: evidence from the Mortality Disparities in American Communities study

Table 3 Measures of agreement between individual-level SES characteristics and census tract- and county-level SES characteristics, Mortality Disparities in American Communities study

	Census tract-level characteristic				County-level characteristic
	Less than/equal to median	Above median	Spec.	Sens.	Less than/equal to median	Above median	Spec.	Sens.
Individual-level characteristic
Household income
Less than/equal to US median	32%	21%	60%	63%	31%	22%	58%	57%
Above US median	17%	30%			20%	27%
≤ 100% FPL
No	48%	42%	53%	67%	50%	40%	55%	56%
Yes	3%	7%			4%	6%
Has high school degree
No	10%	4%	69%	53%	9%	6%	60%	54%
Yes	40%	46%			40%	46%
Has college degree
No	44%	30%	59%	66%	42%	32%	57%	61%
Yes	9%	17%			10%	16%
Is unemployed^a
No	50%	47%	52%	61%	51%	46%	53%	55%
Yes	1%	2%			2%	2%
Employed in blue-collar industry^b
No	32%	31%	51%	56%	30%	33%	48%	55%
Yes	16%	21%			17%	20%
Owns home
No	17%	10%	64%	61%	15%	12%	56%	57%
Yes	28%	45%			31%	42%
Foreign born
No	52%	36%	59%	80%	51%	36%	59%	78%
Yes	3%	10%			3%	10%

For household income, education, and owns home, having a value of 1 was considered low risk for health outcomes, while having a value of 0 was considered high risk; in contrast, for poverty, employment/occupation, and foreign born, having a value of 1 was considered high risk, while having a value of 0 was considered low risk
Spec. specificity, Sens. sensitivity, FPL federal poverty level
^aUnemployment was measured among participants who reported being in the workforce (e.g., excluding retirees)
^bEmployment in a blue-collar industry was measured among participants who reported being employed (i.e., excluding unemployed participants)

ISSN: 1478-7954