Table 5.
Associations between Mothers’ Annual Household Income, Education and Employment Status and Mothers’ Ratings of Self General Health and Child General Health: Linear Regression Coefficients
| Control Variables | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Model 1 Individual Characteristics |
Model 2 Model 1 + Risk Factors |
Model 3 Models 1 + 2+ Dental Care |
|
| Self-Rated General Health+, ## | |||
| Income | |||
| < $10,000 | – | – | – |
| $10,000 – $20,000 | .16*** | .06 | .05 |
| >$20,000 | .36**** | .19**** | .17*** |
| Education | |||
| Less than high school | – | ||
| High school diploma or GED | .15*** | .07 | .07 |
| Some college | .26**** | .12** | .10* |
| College degree or more | .63**** | .40**** | .36**** |
| Employed# | .15*** | .07 | .05 |
| Mother-Rated Child General Health++, ## | |||
| Income | |||
| < $10,000 | – | – | – |
| $10,000 – $20,000 | .03 | .01 | .00 |
| >$20,000 | .11** | .06 | .05 |
| Education | |||
| Less than high school | – | ||
| High school diploma or GED | .13*** | .12*** | .12*** |
| Some college | .20**** | .17**** | .18**** |
| College degree or more | .30**** | .25*** | .25*** |
| Employed# | .04 | .02 | .02 |
p<.10;
p<05;
p<.01;
p<.001
Model 1: Controlling for race/ethnicity, age, single head of household, number of preschool children, number of school-aged or older children, immigrant status, household primary language not English, survey mode
Model 2: Model 1 control variables plus smoking status, mental health status, flossing frequency, length of brushing, toothpick use, tooth whitener use, belief cleaning prevents cavities, belief cleaning prevents loose teeth, mother fear of dentist, type of dental insurance coverage
Model 3: Models 1 and 2 control variables plus frequency of dental care
Employed, full-time homemaker, in-school, military, or disabled for work versus unemployed or laid off.
The mother ratings of general health are on a 1–5 scale, where 1=poor and 5=excellent.
Interactions of racial/ethnic group with income, education and employment status were not significant in all models.
Interactions of racial/ethnic group with income, education and employment status were significant only for education (Wald test p = .037). The interaction between Black and having a 4-year college degree or more was statistically significant in Model 3 (coefficient: −0.69; p=.005), indicating the positive effects of high education (0.68) are virtually eliminated in this group.