“[C[ommunicating health disparities with racial comparison information in isolation may not be an effective way to achieve health equity.”
—Jiawei Liu and Jeff Niederdeppe, Cornell University
Effects of Communicating Health Disparities Using Social Comparison Framing
A Comprehensive Review
Journal Article May-01-2024 , and 3-min read
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Report Publish Date: May 2024
This journal article investigates the effectiveness of social comparison framing, a way of communicating about health disparities for a given disease or condition by comparing data about two groups, one with higher risks and worse outcomes and the other with lower risks and better outcomes.
Primary Takeaways
Comparing the health of two groups:
- Makes people from the group with lower prevalence of the disease less likely to perceive themselves as being at risk.
- Causes negative feelings among people from the group that has higher prevalence of the disease.
- May or may not get people to change their health behaviors.
- Has no effect on whether people support health-promoting policies and sometimes even polarizes people’s responses.
Overview and Objectives
Social comparison framing is often used to communicate health disparities in mass and social media. But on its own, it may not be effective and in fact may harm efforts to boost public support for public health policies that reduce disparities and improve health equity.
The researchers wanted to lay out how well social comparison framing works to change health behaviors and support for policies, both for those who are more at risk of poor health and those who are at less risk.
Hypothesis or Approach
The researchers conducted a literature review of studies on social comparison framing. They wanted to answer the following questions:
- What are the effects on individual and societal-level health outcomes for people from groups with less disease prevalence?
- What are the effects on individual and societal-level health outcomes for people from groups with more disease prevalence?
The researchers identified studies using keyword searches in multiple databases. They included studies that used a randomized experiment, focused directly on social comparison that concerned health disparity, and were focused on members of the public (not a specific profession, like the media or policy makers).
The researchers included 17 studies in their final review and analysis.
How This Influences Change
The authors write, “communicating health disparities with racial comparison information in isolation may not be an effective way to achieve health equity.” However, they say, we have more to learn about whether social comparison framing may work if contextualized with other information or when presented to professional audiences.
Research: Go Deeper
Authors’ abstract:
Communicating health disparities in mass and social media has typically taken the form of comparing disease risks and outcomes between two or more social groups, a strategy known as social comparison framing. This comprehensive review examined the design and results of 17 studies from 15 peer-reviewed journal articles about the effects of social comparison framing of health disparities. Most studies focus on race-based disparities across a variety of health topics. For individual-level outcomes, social comparison tends to reduce perceived disease risks for the lower disease prevalence group while prompting negative emotions and yielding inconsistent impact on health behavioral intentions among members of the higher prevalence group. For societal-level outcomes, social comparison often has either null or polarizing effects on support for policies to address these disparities that vary by racial identity/attitudes of the respondents. Studies also find that racial comparisons trigger lower levels of support for policy remedies relative to economic, educational, or geographic comparisons. We conclude that social comparison framing of health disparities, in the absence of broader discussion of the social and structural causes of these disparities, is more likely to incur negative consequences. We propose several possible strategies to communicate health disparity information more effectively.
Social Science & Medicine 348 (2024) 116808; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116808
Research Team
This study and report was conducted and created by the following people.
- Jiawei Liu
- Jeff Niederdeppe
Additional Research to Explore
Brief
Marketplace Pulse: Overcharged and Shortchanged
High healthcare costs, medical debt, and rising uninsured rates are making Americans poorer and sicker. Understand the crisis—and how we can create a fairer system.
Brief
How Will the Changing Federal Policy Landscape Affect Hospitals?
Major federal policy changes could mean millions will lose coverage and health systems may struggle to provide adequate care.
Brief
Helping Workers Build Wealth through Employee-Owned Enterprises
RWJF is partnering with Apis & Heritage Capital Partners, a Black-led investment firm with a mission to fight wealth inequality through employee-owned businesses.