Socio-Economic Family Background and Adult Children’s Health in Germany: The Role of Intergenerational Transmission of Education

Author(s):  
Oliver Arránz Becker ◽  
Katharina Loter

Abstract This study examines consequences of parental education for adult children’s physical and mental health using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study. Based on random-effects growth curve models (N = 15,144 West German respondents born between 1925 and 1998 aged 18–80), we estimate gender-, age-, and cohort-specific trajectories of physical and mental health components of the SF-12 questionnaire for low and high parental education measured biennially from 2002 to 2018. Findings suggest more persistent effects of parental education on physical than mental health. In particular, both daughters and sons of the lower educated group of parents (with neither parent qualified for university) exhibit markedly poorer physical health over the whole life course and worse mental health in mid-life and later life than those of higher educated parents. Thus, children’s health gradients conditional on parental education tend to widen with increasing age. Once children’s educational attainment is held constant, effects of parental education on children’s health mostly vanish. This suggests that in the strongly stratified West German context with its rather low social mobility, intergenerational transmission of education, which, according to our analyses, has been declining among younger cohorts, contributes to cementing long-term health inequalities across the life course.

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Majid Golzarpour ◽  
Meroe Vameghi ◽  
Homeira Sajjadi ◽  
Gholamreza Ghaedamini Harouni

<p><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Worldwide, much evidence exists on the influence of parents’ socioeconomic conditions, including employment, on children’s health. However, the mechanisms for this affect are still being investigated. Few studies have been conducted in Iran to investigate this issue. This study investigated working conditions, job satisfaction, and mental health of employed people and the association between these variables and their children’s health.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>MATERIALS &amp; METHODS:</strong> In this correlational work, 200 male and female staff of the official part of Educational Organization and the schools of Mashhad with children aged 5-18 years was randomly selected. The data were gathered using a demographic questionnaire, the 20-item Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, the 28-item General Health Questionnaire, and the 28-item Child Health Questionnaire. The data were then analyzed using SPSS. The associations under study were investigated by structural equation modeling in AMOS.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> Approximately 17% of the variation in the parents’ job satisfaction could be explained by the parents’ insurance, income, and work hours; 6% of the variation in their mental health was explained by job satisfaction, and 26% of the variation in children’s health was directly explained by the parents’ job satisfaction and mental health. However, approximately 32.2% of the variation in children’s health could be explained in the light of the direct effect of the parents’ mental health and direct and indirect effects of the parents’ job satisfaction. The goodness of fit index was 0.94.</p><p><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> Parents’ job satisfaction was associated with and considerably explained children’s health. Although this finding may be partially related to the job satisfaction effect on mental health, the reasons for the affect of job satisfaction on children’s health and the potential mechanisms of this association require further studies.<strong></strong></p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (Suppl 2) ◽  
pp. 7s ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabíola Bof de Andrade ◽  
José Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes ◽  
Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Junior ◽  
Maria Fernanda Lima-Costa ◽  
Cesar De Oliveira

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between life course socioeconomic conditions and two oral health outcomes (edentulism and use of dental prostheses among individuals with severe tooth loss) among older Brazilian adults. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study with data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil) which includes information on persons aged 50 years or older residing in 70 municipalities across the five great Brazilian regions. Regression models using life history information were used to investigate the relation between childhood (parental education) and adulthood (own education and wealth) socioeconomic circumstances and edentulism and use of dental prostheses. Slope index of inequality and relative index of inequality for edentulism and use of dental prostheses assessed socioeconomic inequalities in both outcomes. RESULTS: Approximately 28.8% of the individuals were edentulous and among those with severe tooth loss 80% used dental prostheses. Significant absolute and relative inequalities were found for edentulism and use of dental prostheses. The magnitude of edentulism was higher among individuals with lower levels of socioeconomic position during childhood, irrespective of their current socioeconomic position. Absolute and relative inequalities related to the use of dental prostheses were not related to childhood socioeconomic position. CONCLUSIONS: These findings substantiate the association between life course socioeconomic circumstances and oral health in older adulthood, although use of dental prostheses was not related to childhood socioeconomic position. The study also highlights the long-lasting relation between childhood socioeconomic inequalities and oral health through the life course.


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