Health-related quality of life and income-related social mobility in young adults.

BACKGROUND: To assess the association of income-related social mobility between the age of 13 and 30 years on health-related quality of life among young adults. METHODS: In 1988-89 n = 7,673 South Australian school children aged 13 years were sampled with n = 4,604 children (60.0%) and n = 4,476 parents (58.3%) returning questionnaires. In 2005-06 n = 632 baseline study participants responded (43.0% of those traced and living in Adelaide). RESULTS: Multivariate regressions adjusting for sex, tooth brushing and smoking status at age 30 showed that compared to upwardly mobile persons social disadvantage was associated (p < 0.05) with more oral health impact (Coeff = 5.5), lower EQ-VAS health state (Coeff = -5.8), and worse satisfaction with life scores (Coeff = -3.5) at age 30 years, while downward mobility was also associated with lower satisfaction with life scores (Coeff = -1.3). CONCLUSIONS: Stable income-related socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with more oral health impact, and lower health state and life satisfaction, while being downwardly mobile was associated with lower life satisfaction at age 30 years. Persons who were upwardly mobile were similar in health outcomes to stable advantaged persons.

Movilidad intergeneracional y marginalidad económica: Un estudio de caso en el Conurbano Bonaerense / Intergenerational mobility and economic marginality: A case study at Gran Buenos Aires area

El artículo analiza la movilidad intergeneracional en áreas periféricas del Gran Buenos Aires. El diseño del estudio aplica una clasificación sociolaboral de tipo exploratorio para distinguir segmentos en contextos de marginalidad geográfica. Partiendo de los datos empíricos proporcionados por un estudio de caso en el barrio de Ministro Rivadavia, se sostiene que los trabajadores en actividades de subsistencia y los asalariados de bajo nivel educativo se encuentran vinculados intergeneracionalmente, lo que da cuenta de la tendencia a la marginalidad y la movilidad espuria señalada por la literatura sobre movilidad en América Latina. Los principales resultados también muestran una baja movilidad educativa que desafía los incrementos nacionales en el nivel de educación. (AU)

To what extent does poor health precede welfare?

BACKGROUND: It is well known that individuals receiving social assistance have more health problems than those with higher incomes. In this paper, we estimate the proportion of social assistance recipients who were on welfare following a drop in health status. METHODS: The study population consisted of Saskatchewan adults who had been continuously off social assistance for 12 consecutive months followed by 6 months on social assistance. Health status was measured by the use of physician services. We examined changes in physician service rates during the 18-month period. RESULTS: Forty-nine percent of individuals in the study population had increases in the number of physician services over the 18-month period. For these individuals, 53% of the increase in service use occurred during the 12 months prior to receiving social assistance. CONCLUSIONS: Deteriorating health, as measured by increased physician service use, seems to be one factor that precedes many people's receipt of welfare. A focus on improving health status may be one way to keep people off welfare.

Smoking from adolescence to adulthood: the effects of parental and own socioeconomic status.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to examine the effects of parental socioeconomic status, own socioeconomic status and social mobility upon the development of smoking from adolescence to adulthood. METHODS: Subjects were the participants of the North Karelia Youth Project study from six schools in Eastern Finland. At the baseline in 1978 they were 13 year-olds (n=903) and in the last of the six surveys in 1993 they were 28-year-olds. The parents were studied in 1978 and 1980. The association between smoking and socioeconomic status was measured by education, occupation and income in adolescence and adulthood, and social mobility was measured by the difference between parental and own education. RESULTS: In general, parental socioeconomic status was not significantly associated with the subjects' smoking in adolescence or adulthood. Own socioeconomic status measured at the age of 21 and 28 was strongly related to smoking. Those who were most educated in adulthood had smoked the least already from the age of 13. Social mobility was not significantly associated with smoking. CONCLUSION: The study stresses the importance of own socioeconomic status in relation to smoking, but parental socioeconomic status or social mobility does not have direct effects on smoking. Socioeconomic differences in smoking should be understood as an important determinant for health inequalities.