Life-course influences on health in British adults: effects of socio-economic position in childhood and adulthood

Abstract

Adverse SEP in childhood is associated with a poorer health profile in mid-adulthood, independently of adult social position, and across diverse measures of disease risk and physical and mental functioning.

The association of childhood socio-economic position and psychological distress in adulthood: is it mediated by adult socio-economic position?

“…Furthermore, more than two-thirds (77%) of the association of childhood SEP with current psychological distress in adulthood is explained by adult SEP. This is noteworthy as it is a larger proportion mediated (explained by) adult SEP than found in other studies exploring life course SEP and mental health (Gilman, Kawachi et al 2002;Harper, Lynch et al 2002;Luo and Waite 2005;Power, Atherton et al 2007). The association between childhood SEP and psychological distress was largely explained by educational attainment, accounting for 63% of the association of low childhood SEP on high to very high levels of psychological distress.…”

“…We argue that adult SEP is a complex multifaceted construct, and that multiple measures (as we have) are preferable to few in fully adjusting for this construct, and hence this mediation pathway. Put another way, we have more fully adjusted for adult SEP than previous research that has been confined to a single adult SEP indicator such as occupation or education (Lynch, Kaplan et al 1997;Gilman, Kawachi et al 2002;Poulton, Caspi et al 2002;Power, Stansfeld et al 2002;Gilman, Kawachi et al 2003;SinghManoux, Ferrie et al 2004;Melchior, Moffitt et al 2007;Power, Atherton et al 2007). This may explain why we found a greater proportion of the effect of childhood SEP on mental health was mediated by adult SEP, than did other studies, i.e.…”

“…Previous investigations of the effects of childhood and adult SEP on health have tended to focus exclusively on physical health outcomes such as coronary heart disease (Singh-Manoux, Ferrie et al 2004), self-rated health (Laaksonen, Rahkonen et al 2005), biological risk factors such as blood pressure, body mass index and cholesterol (Melchior, Moffitt et al 2007;Power, Atherton et al 2007), cause-specific mortality (Davey Smith, Hart et al 1998;Galobardes, Lynch et al 2008) and all-cause mortality (Kuh, Hardy et al 2002). These studies comprise a growing body of literature showing that whilst poor socio-economic circumstances during childhood are associated with adverse health outcomes in adulthood, adjusting for measures of current adult SEP can explain some or all of the association (i.e.…”

“…Similar studies, exploring the contributions of both early and later life SEP to adult mental health, are not as common and their findings inconsistent. Some have demonstrated a significant association between adverse childhood SEP and poorer mental health independently of adult SEP, concluding that socio-economic differences, certainly for depression, originate early in life and do not appear to be fully mediated by adult socio-economic position (Gilman, Kawachi et al 2002;Luo and Waite 2005;Power, Atherton et al 2007). However, other studies have shown that poor mental health is more strongly associated with adult than childhood SEP (Harper, Lynch et al 2002;Poulton, Caspi et al 2002).…”

Air Pollution and Primordial Prevention of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases

“…Usually improper lifestyle habits and low educational levels have been considered as the underlying process of the role of low socio-economic position in early life as a predisposing factor for future chronic diseases (Power, et al, 2007) and mortality (Strand & Kunst, 2007), the exposure to air pollutants and its effects on low birth weight and premature birth might have an additional role in this regard. Lifestyle modifications and strengthening primary care in health system are suggested as the main strategies to prevent and control chronic diseases in low-and middle-income countries (Miranda et al, 2008).…”