Figure 1.
Essential elements of selected conceptual approaches to health disparities. A single-headed arrow from X to Y indicates that X is a cause of Y (e.g., social, environmental, and cultural factors are causally related to health (a), or that X causes increased exposure to Y (e.g., genetic factors cause exposures to certain environments (d ). A double-headed arrow indicates that both factors are associated (for example, genes and environments can become associated if persons of certain ancestry are more likely to live in certain areas as a result of institutional discrimination (a,d ). A line intersecting a one-headed arrow (in the form of a T) indicates that the factor modifies the relation between X and Y.