Socioeconomic position at different stages of the life course and its influence on body weight and weight gain in adulthood: A longitudinal study with 13-year follow-up

Socioeconomic inequalities in body weight have been demonstrated in numerous cross-sectional studies; however, little research has investigated these inequalities from a life course and longitudinal perspective. We examined the association between child- and adulthood socioeconomic position (SEP) and BMI and overweight/obesity in 1991 (baseline) and changes in BMI and the prevalence of overweight and obesity between 1991 and 2004. Data from the 1991 and 2004 waves of the longitudinal Dutch GLOBE study were used. Participants (n = 1,465) were aged 40–60 years at baseline. BMI was calculated from self-reported height and weight collected by postal questionnaire. Retrospective recall of father's occupation was used as childhood socioeconomic indicator, and adulthood SEP was measured by the occupation of the main income earner of the household. The findings showed that among women, childhood SEP exerted a greater influence on body weight than SEP in adulthood: at baseline, women from disadvantaged backgrounds in childhood had a higher BMI and were more likely to be overweight or obese, and they gained significantly more weight between baseline and follow-up. In contrast, adult SEP had a greater impact than childhood circumstances on men's body weight: those from disadvantaged households had a higher mean BMI and were more likely to be overweight or obese at baseline, and they gained significantly more weight between 1991 and 2004. The findings suggest that exposure to disadvantaged circumstances at critically important periods of the life course is associated with body weight and weight gain in adulthood. Importantly, these etiologically relevant periods differ for men and women, suggesting gender-specific pathways to socioeconomic inequalities in body weight in adulthood

Childhood economic conditions and length of life: Evidence from the UK Boyd Orr cohort, 1937–2005

We study the importance of childhood socioeconomic conditions in predicting differences in life expectancy using data from a large sample of children collected in 16 locations in England and Scotland in 1937-39, who have been traced through official death records up to 2005. We estimate a number of duration of life models that control for unobserved family heterogeneity. Our results confirm that childhood conditions such as household income and the quality of the home environment are significant predictors of longevity. Importantly, however, the role of socioeconomic status appears to differ across cause of death, with household income being a significant predictor of death from smoking-related cancer. Moreover, we find that (1) poor housing conditions in childhood is associated with reduced longevity, that (2) early doctor-assessed childhood health conditions significantly predict a reduced length of life, that (3) children born in a location with relatively high infant mortality rates live significantly fewer years, and that (4) there is a high correlation in longevity across children from the same family across all causes of death. We estimate that the difference in life expectancy between those with the 'best' and 'worst' observable characteristics is about 9 years, which increases to 20 years when we take into account the 'best' and 'worst' observable and unobservable household characteristics. © 2009 Elsevier B.V

Early-life income inequality and adolescent health and well-being

The writing of this article was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP 235688) and Canada Research Chairs Programme awarded to the first author.A prevailing hypothesis about the association between income inequality and poor health is that inequality intensifies social hierarchies, increases stress, erodes social and material resources that support health, and subsequently harms health. However, the evidence in support of this hypothesis is limited by cross-sectional, ecological studies and a scarcity of developmental studies. To address this limitation, we used pooled, multilevel data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study to examine lagged, cumulative, and trajectory associations between early-life income inequality and adolescent health and well-being. Psychosomatic symptoms and life satisfaction were assessed in surveys of 11- to 15-year-olds in 40 countries between 1994 and 2014. We linked these data to national Gini indices of income inequality for every life year from 1979 to 2014. The results showed that exposure to income inequality from 0 to 4 years predicted psychosomatic symptoms and lower life satisfaction in females after controlling lifetime mean income inequality, national per capita income, family affluence, age, and cohort and period effects. The cumulative income inequality exposure in infancy and childhood (i.e., average Gini index from birth to age 10) related to lower life satisfaction in female adolescents but not to symptoms. Finally, individual trajectories in early-life inequality (i.e., linear slopes in Gini indices from birth to 10 years) related to fewer symptoms and higher life satisfaction in females, indicating that earlier exposures mattered more to predicting health and wellbeing. No such associations with early-life income inequality were found in males. These results help to establish the antecedent-consequence conditions in the association between income inequality and health and suggest that both the magnitude and timing of income inequality in early life have developmental consequences that manifest in reduced health and well-being in adolescent girls.PostprintPeer reviewe