Kate E Pickett
Biographic Data
| ID | 253078 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kate E Pickett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kate E |
| FAMILY NAME | Pickett |
| SIGNATURE | PICKETT K E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of York |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8066-8507 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 99 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 784 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 99 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Selective empathy and the genocide in Gaza: The silence of health and academic associations
Genocide is one of the most extreme forms of global health crisis. The ongoing mass atrocities in Gaza have resulted in a sharp decline in life expectancy, the systematic destruction of healthcare infrastructure and the highest number of medical personnel killed in any conflict ever recorded. While multiple human rights organisations have recognised these conditions as genocide, major health and academic associations have responded inconsistently…
A Good Society (and how we make it)
What is a good society and how might we build one? This essay, an edited version of the Cochrane lecture delivered at the Society for Social Medicine and Population Health in Bradford 2025, sets out my personal vision of what we should be aspiring to and how we might achieve it. I open with evidence connecting socioeconomic inequalities to well-being and highlight that component parts of a utopian place exist, but not all in the same place. Build…
Why is income volatility associated with poor health? Longitudinal evidence from the UK and France
There is some evidence that income volatility (fluctuations in income over time) negatively affects mental and physical health, independently of the level of income. Evidence to date has examined fluctuations from year to year or from day to day, whereas a more relevant timescale might be month to month. Here, we use data from the Changing Cost of Living Study, a longitudinal panel from the UK and France with monthly data (n = 484). We examine th…
Ten principles for transforming economics in a time of global crises
Transformation of economic systems is widely regarded as essential for tackling interacting global crises. Unconventional economic approaches seeking holistic human and planetary well-being have transformative potential, but mainstreaming them is hampered by vested interests and intellectual lock-ins. They are also diffuse and struggle to develop sufficient discursive power to gain more widespread traction in policy. To bring coherence, we undert…
The complex relationships between economic inequality and biodiversity: A scoping review
Biodiversity change and increasing within-country economic inequalities represent two of the greatest global challenges of the Anthropocene. The most marginalized in society are often the most vulnerable to biodiversity change but there is no consensus on the relationships between biodiversity change and rising economic inequalities. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic scoping review of the literature and found 27 studies that explicit…
Exploring attitudes and variation by sociodemographic factors in consent provided for financial data linkage in an experimental birth cohort study
This research sets out an approach to obtaining validated income and benefits data, as a proxy measure for financial security, within an experimental birth cohort study in a deprived and ethnically diverse setting. It achieves good consent rates and demonstrates greater input from those who report greater potential need for financial support. Further research should be conducted to further understand the interplay of language spoken in this conte…
Exploring the feasibility of evaluating a community alliance welfare advice programme co-located in primary care in Bradford: An uncontrolled before and after study
This research demonstrates the feasibility of evaluating a welfare advice service co-located in primary care in a deprived and ethnically diverse setting utilising the ascribed mental health, wellbeing and quality of life and financial outcome tools. It provides evidence of promise to support the hypothesis that the implementation of a welfare advice service co-located in a health setting can improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequal…
Short‐term changes in financial situation have immediate mental health consequences: Implications for social policy
Poverty is associated with psychological variables such as increased anxiety, increased depression, steeper time discounting and greater risk aversion. However, less is known about whether short‐term changes in financial circumstances are coupled to immediate psychological responses. We present data from the Changing Cost of Living study, in which panels of adults in France ( n = 232) and the UK ( n = 240) completed financial and psychological su…
Immigrant Generation, Ethnicity, and Early-life Education Outcomes: Evidence from the Born in Bradford Family Cohort Study
This paper examines the relationship between ethnicity and immigrant generation in relationship to early educational outcomes and their potential determinants. Using Born in Bradford, a large longitudinal birth cohort, and its linked education and health records, we investigated the associations between ethnicity, immigration generations and education measures (Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and National Curriculum Key Stage One). We looked…
Perceptions, preferences and barriers: A qualitative study of greenspace and under‐representation in Leeds, UK
Greenspaces facilitate well‐being benefits for humans in several ways including through cognitive restoration, physical exercise and social interaction. However, some groups are under‐represented in greenspaces, including women, older people, those with health conditions, people with lower socioeconomic status and people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and so are less likely to accrue these benefits. Using thematic analysis and semi‐structured …
Short-term changes in financial situation have immediate mental health consequences: Implications for social policy
Poverty is associated with psychological variables such as increased anxiety, increased depression, steeper time discounting and greater risk aversion. However, less is known about whether short-term changes in financial circumstances are coupled to immediate psychological responses. We present data from the Changing Cost of Living study, in which panels of adults in France (n = 232) and the UK (n = 240) completed financial and psychological surv…
Examining individual social status using the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status: Findings from the Born in Bradford study
Subjective social status is how a person perceives their social class relative to other people and has frequently been associated with people's health and well-being. A frequently used measure of subjective social status is the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status that depicts social status as a 10 rung ladder, asking individuals to rank themselves on this ladder relative to other people, either in their local neighbourhood or wider societ…
Changing circumstances and new basic premises: Turning the affordability and feasibility relationship on its head: a reply to ‘The big tax hikes that make UBI “affordable” could be used to cut poverty…
Changing circumstances and new basic premises: turning the affordability and feasibility relationship on its head: a reply to ‘The big tax hikes that make UBI “affordable” could be used to cut poverty in more targeted ways’ by Donald Hirsch 1" published on Feb 2023 by Policy Press
Universal Basic Income is affordable and feasible: Evidence from UK economic microsimulation modelling1
Critics of Universal Basic Income (UBI) have claimed that it would be either unaffordable or inadequate. This discussion paper tests this claim by examining the distributional impacts of three UBI schemes broadly designed to provide pathways to attainment of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). We use microsimulation of data from the Family Resources Survey to outline the static distributional impacts and costs of the schemes. Our key finding is th…
What role do young people believe Universal Basic Income can play in supporting their mental health
The proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds in England reporting a longstanding mental health condition increased almost 10-fold between 1995 and 2014. Studies demonstrate an association between income and anxiety and depression, with bi-directional effects. There is also emerging evidence that cash transfers may mitigate, prevent or delay those conditions. This article presents qualitative data exploring the relationship between income and anxiety and…
Income inequality, status consumption and status anxiety: An exploratory review of implications for sustainability and directions for future research
Income inequality has been associated with higher levels of status consumption with well-established harmful effects on health, wellbeing and economic stability. Research has suggested that status anxiety may be the mechanism that connects income inequality with status consumption, but the literature is disparate. In this interdisciplinary review, we draw together the evidence and explore the implications for climate change and sustainability, id…
Socioeconomic disadvantage and ethnicity are associated with large differences in children’s working memory ability: Analysis of a prospective birth cohort study following 13,500 children
Working memory is a limited capacity system that stores and processes information over short time periods and is essential for learning new information. Some studies have investigated the associations between socioeconomic position and working memory, however none have examined this across potentially dissociable aspects of working memory. Further, there are very few studies about children's working memory differences across and within different …
The Impact of the Pandemic on Mental Health in Ethnically Diverse Mothers: Findings from the Born in Bradford, Tower Hamlets and Newham Covid-19 Research Programmes
Restrictions implemented by the UK Government during the COVID-19 pandemic have served to worsen mental health outcomes, particularly amongst younger adults, women, those living with chronic health conditions, and parents of young children. Studies looking at the impact for ethnic minorities have reported inconsistent findings. This paper describes the mental health experiences of mothers from a large and highly ethnically diverse population duri…
A review of the effectiveness and experiences of welfare advice services co-located in health settings: A critical narrative systematic review
Understanding Covid‐19 misinformation and vaccine hesitancy in context: Findings from a qualitative study involving citizens in Bradford, UK
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 vaccines can offer a route out of the pandemic, yet initial research suggests that many are unwilling to be vaccinated. A rise in the spread of misinformation is thought to have played a significant role in vaccine hesitancy. To maximize uptake, it is important to understand why misinformation has been able to take hold at this time and why it may pose a more significant problem within certain contexts. OBJECTIVE: To understa…
Comparison of Experiences in Two Birth Cohorts Comprising Young Families with Children under Four Years during the Initial Covid-19 Lockdown in Australia and the UK: A Qualitative Study
This study aims to understand the experience and impact of the initial COVID-19 lockdown in young families with children aged below 4 years. Free text questions were administered to participants in the ORIGINS (Australia) and Born in Bradford (UK) cohort studies to collect qualitative information on worries, concerns and enjoyable experiences during the pandemic. A total of 903 (400 for ORIGINS and 503 for BiB) participants completed the two surv…
Wellbeing economy: An effective paradigm to mainstream post-growth policies
Functional assessments in the UK social security system: The Experiences of Claimants With Mental Health Conditions
Eligibility for health-related income benefits in the United Kingdom is now determined through the use of functional assessments conducted by healthcare professionals. Claimant satisfaction with both Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Work Capability Assessments (WCA) has been mixed and concerns have been raised that mental health conditions are not well-understood in this context, but academic research has so far been limited. Individuals w…
Estimating Social Gradients in Health for UK Mothers and Infants of Pakistani Origin: Do Latent Class Measures of Socioeconomic Position Help
We are constantly overdrawn, despite not spending money on anything other than bills and food’: A mixed-methods, participatory study of food and food insecurity in the context of income inequality
This article reports on a participatory, mixed-methods study, of the causes and lived experiences of food insecurity in the context of an unequal city in England. Among families with young children, we find that income and housing tenure are strongly associated with food insecurity and food bank use, and these impacts extend to higher socioeconomic status groups. Higher costs of food, housing and transport associated with life in an unequal conte…
Income Inequality and Social Dysfunction
Population health tends to be better in societies where income is more equally distributed. Recent evidence suggests that many other social problems, including mental illness, violence, imprisonment, lack of trust, teenage births, obesity, drug abuse, and poor educational performance of schoolchildren, are also more common in more unequal societies. Differences in the prevalence of ill health and social problems between more and less equal societ…
The problems of relative deprivation: Why some societies do better than others
Neighborhood economic disadvantage, violent crime, group density, and pregnancy outcomes in a diverse, urban population
The enemy between us: The psychological and social costs of inequality
There is now substantial evidence that larger income differences in a society increase the prevalence of most of the health and social problems that tend to occur more frequently lower down the social ladder. The pathways through which human beings are sensitive to inequality are however less clear. This paper outlines the explanatory theory that we think best fits the growing but incomplete body of evidence available. Inequality appears to have …
Wider income gaps, wider waistbands? An ecological study of obesity and income inequality
Objectives: To see if obesity, deaths from diabetes, and daily calorie intake are associated with income inequality among developed countries. Design: Ecological study of 21 developed countries. Countries: Countries were eligible for inclusion if they were among the top 50 countries with the highest gross national income per capita by purchasing power parity in 2002, had a population over 3 million, and had available data on income inequality and…
The effects of racial density and income incongruity on pregnancy outcomes
Income Inequality and Socioeconomic Gradients in Mortality
Objectives. We investigated whether the processes underlying the association between income inequality and population health are related to those responsible for the socioeconomic gradient in health and whether health disparities are smaller when income differences are narrower. Methods. We used multilevel models in a regression analysis of 10 age- and cause-specific US county mortality rates on county median household incomes and on state income…
Marital status disparities in maternal smoking during pregnancy, breastfeeding and maternal depression
Absolute and relative family affluence and psychosomatic symptoms in adolescents
Wellbeing economy: An effective paradigm to mainstream post-growth policies
Ethnic Density Effects on Birth Outcomes and Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy in the US Linked Birth and Infant Death Data Set
Objectives. We investigated whether mothers from ethnic minority groups have better pregnancy outcomes when they live in counties with higher densities of people from the same ethnic group—despite such areas tending to be more socioeconomically deprived. Methods. In a population-based US study, we used multilevel logistic regression analysis to test whether same-ethnic density was associated with maternal smoking in pregnancy, low birthweight, pr…
Ethnic density effects on maternal and infant health in the Millennium Cohort Study
Income inequality and the prevalence of mental illness: A preliminary international analysis
The World Health Organisation’s world mental health survey initiative has recently provided comparable cross-national estimates of the prevalence of any, and serious, mental illness.1 In an exploratory study, we estimated the relations of two important economic factors—living standards and income inequality—to mental illness in developed countries. Prevalence of mental illness in the WMH survey initiative is derived from face to face interviews u…
Relative deprivation and risk factors for obesity in Canadian adolescents
Research on socioeconomic differences in overweight and obesity and on the ecological association between income inequality and obesity prevalence suggests that relative deprivation may contribute to lifestyle risk factors for obesity independently of absolute affluence. We tested this hypothesis using data on 25,980 adolescents (11-15 years) in the 2010 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. The Yitzhaki index of relativ…
Residential mobility in the UK during pregnancy and infancy: Are pregnant women, new mothers and infants 'unhealthy migrants
Adolescent Birth Rates, Total Homicides, and Income Inequality In Rich Countries
Income inequality has been associated with both homicides and births to adolescents in the United States and with homicides internationally. We found that adolescent birth rates and general homicide rates were closely correlated with each other internationally (r= 0.95) and within the United States (r = 0.74) and with inequality internationally and within the United States. These results, coupled with no association with absolute income, suggeste…
The working-class context of pregnancy smoking
The Health Benefits of Hispanic Communities for Non-Hispanic Mothers and Infants: Another Hispanic Paradox
Objectives. In the United States, Hispanic mothers have birth outcomes comparable to those of White mothers despite lower socioeconomic status. The contextual effects of Hispanic neighborhoods may partially explain this “Hispanic paradox.” We investigated whether this benefit extends to other ethnic groups. Methods. We used multilevel logistic regression to investigate whether the county-level percentage of Hispanic residents is associated with i…
Pregnant smokers who quit, pregnant smokers who don't: Does History of Problem Behavior Make a Difference
The association between ethnic density and poor self-rated health among US Black and Hispanic people
Associations between ethnic density and self-rated health are inconsistent and differ by ethnicity and gender
All in it Together? Community Food Aid in a Multi-Ethnic Context
This paper derives from a study of community food aid in a multi-ethnic, multi-faith city in the North of England. The paper begins to make sense of the diversity of types of food insecurity assistance, examines the potential exclusion of certain groups from receipt of food aid, and explores the relationship between food aid providers and the state. Faith-based food aid is common in the case study area, particularly among food bank provision to t…
Universal Basic Income is affordable and feasible: Evidence from UK economic microsimulation modelling1
Critics of Universal Basic Income (UBI) have claimed that it would be either unaffordable or inadequate. This discussion paper tests this claim by examining the distributional impacts of three UBI schemes broadly designed to provide pathways to attainment of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). We use microsimulation of data from the Family Resources Survey to outline the static distributional impacts and costs of the schemes. Our key finding is th…
Widening Social Inequalities in Risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Objectives: In 1994, the US Public Health Service launched the “Back to Sleep” campaign, promoting the supine sleep position to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Studies of SIDS in the United States have generally found socioeconomic and race disparities. Our objective was to see whether the “Back to Sleep” campaign, which involves an effective, easy, and free intervention, has reduced social class inequalities in SIDS. Methods: We con…
Short‐term changes in financial situation have immediate mental health consequences: Implications for social policy
Poverty is associated with psychological variables such as increased anxiety, increased depression, steeper time discounting and greater risk aversion. However, less is known about whether short‐term changes in financial circumstances are coupled to immediate psychological responses. We present data from the Changing Cost of Living study, in which panels of adults in France ( n = 232) and the UK ( n = 240) completed financial and psychological su…
What role do young people believe Universal Basic Income can play in supporting their mental health
The proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds in England reporting a longstanding mental health condition increased almost 10-fold between 1995 and 2014. Studies demonstrate an association between income and anxiety and depression, with bi-directional effects. There is also emerging evidence that cash transfers may mitigate, prevent or delay those conditions. This article presents qualitative data exploring the relationship between income and anxiety and…
Maternal height, pregnancy weight gain, and birthweight
The Institute of Medicine recommends that short women gain less weight during pregnancy than taller women in order to reduce the risk of high birthweight, which can lead to feto-pelvic disproportion. This recommendation, however, is based on clinical judgment rather than on epidemiologic evidence, as few studies have examined the relationships between maternal height, pregnancy weight gain, and infant birthweight. Our objective was to determine w…
Multilevel analyses of neighbourhood socioeconomic context and health outcomes: A critical review: Table 1
PURPOSE: Interest in the effects of neighbourhood or local area social characteristics on health has increased in recent years, but to date the existing evidence has not been systematically reviewed. Multilevel or contextual analyses of social factors and health represent a possible reconciliation between two divergent epidemiological paradigms-individual risk factor epidemiology and an ecological approach. DATA SOURCES: Keyword searching of Inde…
Coverage of Tobacco Dependence Treatments for Pregnant Smokers in Health Maintenance Organizations
Approximately 13% of pregnant women in the United States smoke,1 with serious health consequences for themselves and their infants.2–7 However, many women make important changes in health behavior when pregnant and approximately 30% of women smokers quit spontaneously early in their pregnancies.8 In June 2000, the US surgeon general released clinical practice guidelines for smoking cessation programs and recommended that “because of the serious r…
Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy and Severe Antisocial Behavior in Offspring: A Review
Objectives. Recent research suggests that in utero exposure to maternal smoking is a risk factor for conduct disorder and delinquency. We review evidence of causality, a controversial but important public health question. Methods. We analyzed studies of maternal prenatal smoking and offspring antisocial behavior within a causal framework. Results. The association is (1) independent of confounders, (2) present across diverse contexts, and (3) cons…
The working-class context of pregnancy smoking
Pregnant smokers who quit, pregnant smokers who don't: Does History of Problem Behavior Make a Difference
Wider income gaps, wider waistbands? An ecological study of obesity and income inequality
Objectives: To see if obesity, deaths from diabetes, and daily calorie intake are associated with income inequality among developed countries. Design: Ecological study of 21 developed countries. Countries: Countries were eligible for inclusion if they were among the top 50 countries with the highest gross national income per capita by purchasing power parity in 2002, had a population over 3 million, and had available data on income inequality and…
Widening Social Inequalities in Risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Objectives: In 1994, the US Public Health Service launched the “Back to Sleep” campaign, promoting the supine sleep position to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Studies of SIDS in the United States have generally found socioeconomic and race disparities. Our objective was to see whether the “Back to Sleep” campaign, which involves an effective, easy, and free intervention, has reduced social class inequalities in SIDS. Methods: We con…
Adolescent Birth Rates, Total Homicides, and Income Inequality In Rich Countries
Income inequality has been associated with both homicides and births to adolescents in the United States and with homicides internationally. We found that adolescent birth rates and general homicide rates were closely correlated with each other internationally (r= 0.95) and within the United States (r = 0.74) and with inequality internationally and within the United States. These results, coupled with no association with absolute income, suggeste…
The effects of racial density and income incongruity on pregnancy outcomes
Income inequality and population health: A review and explanation of the evidence
Income inequality and the prevalence of mental illness: A preliminary international analysis
The World Health Organisation’s world mental health survey initiative has recently provided comparable cross-national estimates of the prevalence of any, and serious, mental illness.1 In an exploratory study, we estimated the relations of two important economic factors—living standards and income inequality—to mental illness in developed countries. Prevalence of mental illness in the WMH survey initiative is derived from face to face interviews u…
Marital status disparities in maternal smoking during pregnancy, breastfeeding and maternal depression
Child wellbeing and income inequality in rich societies: Ecological cross sectional study
Objectives To examine associations between child wellbeing and material living standards (average income), the scale of differentiation in social status (income inequality), and social exclusion (children in relative poverty) in rich developed societies. Design Ecological, cross sectional studies. Setting Cross national comparisons of 23 rich countries; cross state comparisons within the United States. Population Children and young people. Main o…
Health promotion at NHS breast cancer screening clinics in the UK
Suboptimal diets, sedentary lifestyles, overweight and obesity expose two-thirds of women in England aged over 50 to a heightened risk of lifestyle-related morbidities. The UK's NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme now reaches 75% of all women aged 53-64 but provides only mammography screening. This cross-sectional survey of 413 women attending two NHS breast screening clinics in North Yorkshire found that the majority of women were interested i…
The problems of relative deprivation: Why some societies do better than others
Neighborhood economic disadvantage, violent crime, group density, and pregnancy outcomes in a diverse, urban population
Impact of social ties on self reported health in France: Is everyone affected equally
Social isolation is associated with 'less than good' self-rated health. This effect appears to be more important for people on a low income
People like us: Ethnic group density effects on health
Studies examining the effects of neighbourhood characteristics have reported what has been called a 'group density' effect on health, such that members of low status minority communities living in an area with a higher proportion of their own racial or ethnic group tend to have better health than those who live in areas with a lower proportion. In this paper we survey published research on ethnic group density and health with the aim of stimulati…
Meaningful differences in maternal smoking behaviour during pregnancy: Implications for infant behavioural vulnerability
BACKGROUND: Smoking during pregnancy has been consistently associated with risk of problem behaviour in offspring. There is debate about whether this association reflects a teratological effect or is a marker for problematic maternal characteristics. We test these "competing" hypotheses by examining whether (1) exposure is associated with an early risk pathway by testing its association with infant temperamental difficultness, and (2) whether pre…
Income Inequality and Socioeconomic Gradients in Mortality
Objectives. We investigated whether the processes underlying the association between income inequality and population health are related to those responsible for the socioeconomic gradient in health and whether health disparities are smaller when income differences are narrower. Methods. We used multilevel models in a regression analysis of 10 age- and cause-specific US county mortality rates on county median household incomes and on state income…
Calibrating Self-Reported Measures of Maternal Smoking in Pregnancy via Bioassays Using a Monte Carlo Approach
Maternal smoking during pregnancy is a major public health problem that has been associated with numerous short- and long-term adverse health outcomes in offspring. However, characterizing smoking exposure during pregnancy precisely has been rather difficult: self-reported measures of smoking often suffer from recall bias, deliberate misreporting, and selective non-disclosure, while single bioassay measures of nicotine metabolites only reflect re…
Are poor mothers and their infants healthier in richer areas? The protective effect of area socio-economic density
The trial is challenging, both in terms of recruitment, and motivating behaviour change. The presentation will elaborate on the recruitment experience into a trial evaluating the effectiveness of interventions in ethnic minority populations
The psychosocial context of pregnancy smoking and quitting in the Millennium Cohort Study
BACKGROUND: Although pregnancy is a time when women have increased motivation to quit smoking, approximately half of female smokers persist in smoking throughout their pregnancies. Persistent pregnancy smokers are known to be more nicotine dependent and to have greater sociodemographic disadvantage. Less is known about the psychosocial context of persistent pregnancy smokers and factors that distinguish them from pregnancy quitters. METHODS: A cr…
Ethnic density effects on maternal and infant health in the Millennium Cohort Study
Medicine (68 works) · Demography (55 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (51 works) · Population (49 works) · Sociology (42 works) · Environmental health (37 works) · Demography (33 works) · Psychology (31 works) · Socioeconomic status (31 works) · Economics (28 works)