Low–socioeconomic status (SES) households have little income or wealth to buffer against the negative impacts of adverse health events among adult household members. This research project links data from a nonprofit food distribution center, electronic medical records from a safety-net healthcare system, and publicly available residential appraisals for more than 3,000 households to provide insight into how low-SES households cope with health shocks experienced by resident adults. Three broad types of strategies are examined: changes in household structure, residential mobility, and use of social services. Of the households studied, 20.2 percent had at least one adult member who experienced a health shock. These households were more likely to gain additional adult household members and employed household members, were more likely to move residence and to move distances greater than one mile, and were less likely to visit the food distribution center after the shock. This research highlights how novel data linkages can help us to understand how health and social policies impact vulnerable populations.

Purpose.: To examine the relationship between physical activity stages of change and preferences for financial risk and time. Design.: A cross-sectional, community-based study. Setting.: A low-income, urban, African-American neighborhood. Subjects.: One hundred sixty-nine adults. Measures.: Self-reported physical activity stages of change—precontemplation to maintenance, objectively measured body mass index and waist circumference, and economic preferences for time and risk measured via incentivized economic experiments. Analysis.: Multivariable ordered logistic regression models were used to examine the association between physical activity stages of change and economic preferences while controlling for demographic characteristics of the individuals. Results.: Individuals who are more tolerant of financial risks (odds ratio [OR] = 1.31, p < .05) and whose time preferences indicate more patience (OR = 1.68, p < .01) are more likely to be in a more advanced physical activity stage (e.g., from preparation to action). The likelihood of being in the maintenance stage increases by 5.6 and 10.9 percentage points for each one-unit increase in financial risk tolerance or one-unit increase in the time preference measure, respectively. Conclusion.: Greater tolerance of financial risk and more patient time preferences among this low-income ethnic minority population are associated with a more advanced physical activity stage. Further exploration is clearly warranted in larger and more representative samples.