AIM: The purpose of this study is to form a valid and -easy to apply-household-based index of socioeconomic status (SES), to be used in the inequalities in health studies and in causality researches.
METHOD: 0-59 month aged children, reproductive aged (15-49) women and household data bases of Manisa Population and Health Surveys (MPHS) 1999 and 2005 were used in this methodological type study. By utilizing SES variables such as woman education and the social class of the household we developed three different index models which has equal weights of woman education and social class. During the last phase of the study known groups method (criterion validity) was used in order to test the expected relationships between the developed indexes and dependent variables by using trend chi-square and Mann Whitney U test).
RESULTS: In equal, education weighted and social class weighted indexs İn both 1999 MNSA and 2005 MNSA, higher socioeconomic level have reduced birth at home and child mortality and these results are statistically significant (all p values = 0.000) .In equal, education weighted and social class weighted indexs İn both 1999 MNSA higher socioeconomic level perceived health "good or very good" increased the percentage of those who are qualified and these results are statistically significant (p=0.002; p=0.000; p=0.008).
CONCLUSION: By using epidemiological terminology we can say that the new developed indexes gave dose-respose relationships with test variables.
Key words: Health Surveys, Socioeconomic Factors, Social Class Article Language: Turkish English
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