Bruce P. Kennedy Ed.D.
Former Assistant Professor of Health and Social Behavior
Department of Health and Social Behavior
Harvard School of Public Health
Discipline: Social Psychology
Expertise: Health Care Inequalities
Investigator Award 
Income Inequality, Social Capital, and Health: A New SynthesisAward Year: 1996 Inequalities in health by socioeconomic status (SES) are large, pervasive, persistent, and widening. Most theories attempting to explain them use individual-level indicators of SES such as income, educational attainment, or occupation. In contrast, this project builds on a new hypothesis of unequal distribution of income as a determinant of health. Drs. Kawachi and Kennedy: (1) examine the relationship between income inequality and mortality at different points in time (1960 through 1990) and at different levels of analysis (state, MSA, county, individual); 2) outline a new theory of the production of health through social and political capital and demonstrate linkages between income inequality and varying access to these forms of capital; and 3) develop a conceptual definition of social capital, exploring its role as an intermediary variable between income inequality and mortality.
Background 
Bruce Kennedy was a former assistant professor of health and social behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health. He passed away on January 3, 2008. His Investigator Award project with co-investigator Ichiro Kawachi, M.D., Ph.D. resulted in the publication of three books and more than 15 articles in journals including the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, and the British Medical Journal. Dr. Kennedy received his doctorate in developmental psychology from Harvard University, an M.Ed. in clinical psychology from Antioch University, and B.A. from the University of New Hampshire.
- Kane, R.A. Definition, Measurement, and Correlates of Quality of Life in Nursing Homes: Toward a Reasonable Practice, Research, and Policy Agenda. The Gerontologist, 2003, 43(2): 28-36.
- Gold, R., Kennedy, B., Connell, F., Kawachi, I. Teen Births, Income Inequality, and Social Capital: Developing an Understanding of the Causal Pathway. Health and Place, 2002, 8(2): 77-83.
- Subramania, S.V., Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B.P. Does the State you Live in Make a Difference? Mutilevel Analysis of Self-Rated Health in the U.S. Social Science and Medicine, 2001, 53(1): 9-19.
- Hemenway, D., Kennedy, B.P., Kawachi, I., Putnam, R.D. Firearm Prevalence and Social Capital. Annals of Epidemiology, 2001, 11(7): 484-90.
- Lochner K, Pamuk E, Makuc D, Kennedy BP, Kawachi I. State-Level Income Inequality and Individual Mortality Risk: A Prospective, Multilevel Study. Am J Public Health, 2001 Mar, 91(3):385-91.
- Kahn, R.S., Wise, P.H., Kennedy, B.P., Kawachi, I. State Income Inequality, Household Income, and Maternal Mental and Physical Health: Cross Sectional National Survey. BMJ, 2000, 321(7272): 1311-5.
- Blakely, T.A., Kennedy, B.P., Glass, R., Kawachi, I. What Is the Lag Time between Income Inequality and Health Status? J of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2000, 54(4): 318-9.
- Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B. Income Inequality and Health: Pathways and Mechanisms. Health Services Research, 1999, 34(1): 215-27.
- Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B., Glass, R. Social Capital and Self-Rated Health: A Contextual Analysis. AJPH, 1999, 89(8): 1187-93.
- Lochner, K., Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B.P. Social Capital: A guide to Its Measurement. Health and Place, 1999, 5(4): 259-70.
- Daniels, N., Kennedy, B.P., Kawachi, I. Why Justice is Good for our Health. Daedalus, 1999, 128(4): 215-51.
- Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B.P., Gupta, V., Prothrow-Stith, D. Women's Status and the Health of Women and Men: A view from the States. Social Science and Medicine, 1999, 48(1): 21-32.
- Kennedy, B.P., Kawachi, I., Glass, R., Prothrow-Stith, D. Income Distribution, Socioeconomic Status, and Self Rated Health in the U.S.. BMJ, 1998, 317(7263): 917-21.
- Kennedy, B.P., Kawachi, I., Prothrow-Stith, D., Lochner, K., Gupta, V. Social Capital, Income Inequality, and Firearm Violent Crime. Social Science and Medicine, 1998, 47(1): 7-17.
- Kennedy, B.P., Kawachi, I., Lochner, K., Jones, C., Prothrow-Stith, D.Ê(Dis)respect and Black Mortality.ÊEthnicity and Disease, 1997, 7(3): 207-14.
- Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B.P.ÊHealth and Social Cohesion: Why Care about Income Inequality?ÊBMJ, 1997, 314(7086): 1037-40.
- Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B.P., Lochner, K.ÊLong Live Community: Social Capital as Public Health.ÊThe American Prospect, Nov/Dec 1997, 35: 56-9.
- Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B.P., Lochner, K., Prothrow-Stith, D.ÊSocial Capital, Income Inequality, and Mortality.ÊAJPH, 1997, 87(9): 1491-8.
- Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B.P.ÊThe Relationship of Income Inequality to Mortality: Does the Choice of Indicator Matter.ÊSocial Science and Medicine, 1997, 45(7): 1121-7.