Early-Life Socioeconomic Status and Physical Activity in Later Life

Abstract

Objectives This study examines the association between early-life socioeconomic status (SES) at age 18 and physical activity (PA) at age 65, elucidates mechanisms explaining this association, and explores gender differences in mediating pathways. Methods Multi-group structural equation modeling is applied to the 1957–2004 data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Results Early-life SES is positively associated with exercise in later life. This association is mediated by socioeconomic resources, health problems, obesity, and depressive symptoms (women only) in 1993 and sports participation in 1957. All mediators explain over 95% of the effect of early-life SES. Discussion This study emphasizes the importance of complex multiple pathways linking early family SES to later-life PA. We identify chains of risks that need to be broken to improve PA among older adults. Our findings also suggest that interventions aimed at maintaining optimal physical functioning in old age should begin at least at midlife.

Barriers to outdoor physical activity and unmet physical activity need in older adults

“…Studies which have adopted a life course perspective have shown that SES in early life has long-lasting effects on physical functioning across the whole life course, extending from childhood to old age. For example, a study conducted in the US found that people who had low SES in early life were more likely to be inactive in old age than people who had grown up in high SES families, and that this was partially explained by the resources resulting from good SES (Pudrovska & Anishkin 2013). A study with a 29-year follow-up showed that low SES in midlife was associated with difficulty in walking and negotiating stairs in old age (Groffen et al 2013).…”

“…In relation to physical activity, low SES has been associated with lower likelihood of meeting physical activity recommendations (Ashe et al 2009) and with lower levels of physical activity (Hillsdon et al 2008, Tucker-Seeley et al 2009) and inactivity (Farrell et al 2014). Childhood SES has been associated with physical activity: people who grew up in low SES families had lower levels of physical activity in old age than people from high SES families (Pudrovska & Anishkin 2013). Low SES, measured as financial assets, has been associated with increased odds of onset of mobility limitation both independently (Nilsson, Avlund & Lund 2010) and in combination with low social participation especially among older men (Nilsson, Avlund & Lund 2011).…”

Condições socioeconômicas e prática de atividades físicas em adultos e idosos: uma revisão sistemática

“…Foram encontrados 21 (48,8%) estudos que analisaram a variável renda 10,11,15,16,18,20,22,23,[25][26][27][28][29][30][32][33][34][35][38][39][40] . Todos os estudos analisaram a variável renda de forma categórica, com diferenças sendo observadas para a medida utilizada: renda familiar mensal e anual 23,26,28 ou renda per capita 19 .…”

“…Do total de estudos analisados, apenas quatro (19%) não encontraram associação entre renda e atividade física em qualquer dos seus domínios 15,20,26,29 . Considerando a associação da renda e da atividade física em seus diferentes domínios, foi verificada associação positiva entre renda e atividade física no lazer em oito (38,1%) estudos 10,16,18,23,23,28,33,35 indicando que pessoas com maior renda eram mais propensas a apresentar maiores níveis de atividade física no lazer. Foi observada a associação negativa entre renda ; anos completos de estudo 29,35 , particularmente de forma categórica.…”

Heterogeneity in chronic disease outcomes among women and men in midlife: examining the role of stability and change in childhood economic hardship

“…Hayward & Gorman, 2004;Pudrovska & Anishkin, 2013). All covariates belonging to these categories were included as time varying, with the exception of education (coded as less than high school, high school, some post-secondary, and postsecondary).…”