Professor Michaela Benzeval Director, Understanding Society

Email

mjbenz@essex.ac.uk

Telephone

01206 873983

Office

2N2.5A.12

Michaela is Director and Principal Investigator of Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study. She is Professor of Longitudinal Research and also a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. Before joining ISER, Michaela was a Programme Leader, and Research Project Director of the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study, at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow. She has also worked at Queen Mary University of London, East London and City Health Authority, the London School of Economics and the King’s Fund. Michaela studied economics at the University of Bath, and health policy and epidemiology, as well as a PGCAP, at the University of London, and gained her PhD, on income and health, from the University of Glasgow.

Research Interests

• Social inequalities in health at different life stages
• The underlying social, biological , behavioural and psychological mechanisms that link people’s social and economic circumstances with health over their life course
• The role of macro contexts, particularly the policy environment, in shaping the links between people’s lives and their health
• Methodological challenges of measuring health in longitudinal social surveys

In addition to Understanding Society, Michaela's current research grants include:

• How can biomarkers and genetics improve our understanding of society and health?
• Methodological innovations in data collection in longitudinal studies
• The prevalence and persistence of ethnic and racial harassment and its impact on health: a longitudinal analysis
• Exploiting existing biomarker data: social position, age and allostatic load

See here for pre-2013 publications

Latest Blog Posts

Publications

Displaying publications 1 - 15 of 44 in total

1. Untreated hypertension in the UK household population — who are missed by the general health checks?

   Jakob Petersen and Michaela Benzeval

   Journal Article Preventive Medicine Reports - Dec 2016
   1. Medicine
   2. Health
   3. Surveys

2. Introduction

   Michaela Benzeval

   Book Chapter - Nov 2016
   1. Politics
   2. Social Change
   3. Education
   4. Labour Market
   5. Households
   6. Public Policy
   7. Research
   8. Societies
   9. Health
   10. Life Course Analysis
   11. Surveys

3. Alternative measures to BMI: exploring income-related inequalities in adiposity in Great Britain

   Apostolos Davillas and Michaela Benzeval

   Journal Article Social Science and Medicine - Oct 2016
   1. Income Dynamics
   2. Health
   3. Finance
   4. Social Stratification

4. How do biomarkers and genetics contribute to Understanding Society? -25th Anniversary editorial-

   Michaela Benzeval, Meena Kumari, and Andrew M. Jones

   Journal Article Health Economics - Oct 2016
   1. Social Sciences
   2. Medicine
   3. Science And Technology
   4. Research
   5. Life Course Analysis
   6. Surveys

5. Variations in cognitive abilities across the life course: cross-sectional evidence from Understanding Society: the UK Household Longitudinal Study

   Elise Whitley, Ian J. Deary, Stuart J. Ritchie, et al.

   Journal Article Intelligence - 15 Sep 2016
   1. Older People
   2. Psychology
   3. Well Being
   4. Health
   5. Life Course Analysis

6. Associations of successful aging with socioeconomic position across the life-course: the West of Scotland Twenty-07 prospective cohort study

   Elise Whitley, Michaela Benzeval, and Frank Popham

   Journal Article Journal of Aging and Health - 30 Aug 2016
   1. Older People
   2. Health
   3. Life Course Analysis
   4. Social Stratification

7. Socioeconomic position and early adolescent smoking development: evidence from the British Youth Panel Survey (1994-2008)

   Michael J. Green, Alastair H. Leyland, Helen Sweeting, et al.

   Journal Article Tobacco Control - Mar 2016
   1. Young People
   2. Public Policy
   3. Health
   4. Social Stratification

8. Comparison of the Rowe–Kahn model of successful aging with self-rated health and life satisfaction: the West of Scotland Twenty-07 prospective cohort study

   Elise Whitley, Frank Popham, and Michaela Benzeval

   Journal Article Gerontologist - 12 Mar 2016
   1. Older People
   2. Well Being
   3. Health

9. Association of adiposity and mental health functioning across the lifespan: findings from Understanding Society (The UK Household Longitudinal Study)

   Apostolos Davillas, Michaela Benzeval, and Meena Kumari

   Journal Article PLoS ONE - 05 Feb 2016
   1. Medicine
   2. Well Being
   3. Health
   4. Life Course Analysis

10. The emergence of health inequalities in early adulthood: evidence on timing and mechanisms from a West of Scotland cohort

    Helen Sweeting, Michael Green, Michaela Benzeval, et al.

    Journal Article BMC Public Health - Jan 2016
    1. Young People
    2. Well Being
    3. Health
    4. Life Course Analysis
    5. Social Stratification

11. Age and income-related inequalities in C-reactive protein: evidence from Understanding Society (UKHLS)

    Apostolos Davillas, Michaela Benzeval, and Meena Kumari

    Conference Paper - 18 Oct 2015
    1. Medicine
    2. Income Dynamics
    3. Health
    4. Life Course Analysis

12. Income-related inequalities in adiposity in Great Britain: evidence from multiple adiposity measures

    Apostolos Davillas and Michaela Benzeval

    Conference Paper - 19 Aug 2015
    1. Medicine
    2. Income Dynamics
    3. Health

13. Income-related inequalities in adiposity in the United Kingdom: evidence from multiple adiposity measures

    Apostolos Davillas and Michaela Benzeval

    Conference Paper - 23 Jul 2015
    1. Medicine
    2. Income Dynamics
    3. Health

14. Introduction

    Michaela Benzeval

    Book Chapter - 2015
    1. Social Change
    2. Societies
    3. Surveys

15. The role of material, psychosocial and behavioral factors in mediating the association between socioeconomic position and allostatic load (measured by cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory markers)

    Tony Robertson, Michaela Benzeval, Elise Whitley, et al.

    Journal Article Brain, Behavior, and Immunity - Mar 2015
    1. Income Dynamics
    2. Health
    3. Life Course Analysis
    4. Social Stratification

Media

Displaying all 10 media publications

1. Healthy and unhealthy connections: our biology influences our health and lives, while the environments in which we live alter our biology

   Media - Jan 2016

2. Teenagers less likely to take up smoking

   Media - 11 Nov 2014

3. UK tobacco controls a success in cutting smoking among adolescents

   Media - 10 Nov 2014

4. UK tobacco controls a success in cutting smoking among adolescents

   Media - 10 Nov 2014

5. UK tobacco controls a success in cutting smoking among adolescents

   Media - 10 Nov 2014

6. UK tobacco controls a success in cutting smoking among adolescents

   Media - 10 Nov 2014

7. UK tobacco controls a success in cutting smoking among adolescents

   Media - 10 Nov 2014

8. How does money influence health?

   Media - 10 Mar 2014

9. Why do poor people have poorer health?

   Media - 10 Mar 2014

10. Women are happiest with love and men with 'serial monogamy', study finds

    Media - 22 Dec 2003