Life-course socioeconomic differences and social mobility in preventable and non-preventable mortality: a study of Swedish twins

Abstract Background Despite advances in life expectancy, low socioeconomic status is associated with a shorter lifespan. This study was conducted to investigate socioeconomic differences in mortality by comparing preventable with non-preventable causes of death in 39 506 participants from the Swedish Twin Registry born before 1935. Methods Childhood social class, own education, own social class and social mobility were used as separate indicators of socioeconomic status. These data were linked to the Swedish Cause of Death Register. Cause of death was categorized as preventable or non-preventable mortality according to indicators presented in the Avoidable Mortality in the European Union (AMIEHS) atlas. Using Cox proportional hazard models, we tested the association between the socioeconomic measures and all-cause mortality, preventable mortality and non-preventable mortality. Additional co-twin control analyses indicated whether the associations reflected genetic confounding. Results The social gradient for mortality was most prominent for the adult socioeconomic measures. There was a social gradient in both preventable mortality and non-preventable mortality, but with an indication of a moderately stronger effect in preventable causes of death. In analyses of social mobility, those who experienced life-time low socioeconomic status (SES) or downward social mobility had an increased mortality risk compared with those with life-time high SES and upward social mobility. Adjustments for genetic confounding did not change the observed associations for education, social class or social mobility and mortality. In the co-twin control analyses of reared-apart twins, the association between childhood social class and mortality weakened, indicating possible genetic influences on this association. Conclusions Our results indicate that there is an association between low adult socioeconomic status and increased mortality independent of genetic endowment. Thus, we do not find support for indirect social selection as the basis for mortality inequalities in Sweden

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Social Class and Test Performance: Comparative Validity of the Peabody with the WISC and WISC-R for Two Socioeconomic Groups

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1977.40.1.139 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 139-145 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Alan S. Appelbaum ◽

June M. Tuma

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Social Class ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Test Performance ◽

Concurrent Validity ◽

Socioeconomic Group ◽

Ability Level ◽

Low Socioeconomic ◽

Socioeconomic Groups ◽

And Performance

Comparability of IQs yielded by the Peabody and the revised Wechsler scale, the WISC-R, is important to interpret IQ estimates obtained from these two scales. In the present study, 40 normal 10-yr.-old children (20 male and 20 female, half of whom were from high and half from low socioeconomic status) were compared for performance on the Peabody, the WISC and the WISC-R. IQs obtained on Forms A and B of the Peabody correlate highly and, thus, the two Peabody forms are essentially parallel and equivalent forms. Concurrent validity coefficients ranging from .71 to .83 were obtained between the Peabody IQs and Verbal and Full Scale IQs of the WISC and the WISC-R. Much lower validity coefficients were obtained between the Peabody and Performance IQs of the WISC and the WISC-R. Large differences in IQ between children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those from high socioeconomic backgrounds were obtained on all four tests. The Peabody IQs were closer in magnitude to the WISC-R IQs than to the WISC in the low socioeconomic group. The results support administering the Peabody to children for obtaining valid IQ estimates. Interpretations of Peabody scores in relation to the WISC-R should be somewhat different from those of the Peabody and the WISC, however, in view of the effects of socioeconomic status (and therefore ability level) on estimates of IQ.

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MEDICAL RESPONSIBILITY AND DRUG ADDICTION

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.34.2.155 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 155-156

Author(s):

Leon Eisenberg

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Social Class ◽

Young People ◽

Drug Addiction ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Behavior Patterns ◽

Low Socioeconomic ◽

Medical Responsibility ◽

Full Participation ◽

American Society

The dismaying extent of addiction among young people, the complexity of its causation, and the grossly unsatisfactory results from current methods of management are all sharply posed in the accompanying review by Freedman and Wilson. This thoughtful condensation of the available literature may disappoint those looking for neat and simple formulations as to cause or cure. Easy slogans and hoary nostrums abound; they lack only facts to support them. The correlations between low socioeconomic status, membership in ethnic groups shut out from full participation in American society, and the prevalence of addictive practices point to social class factors as important determinants of the behavior patterns that eventuate in addiction; yet addiction is not universal among the disadvantaged and is being discovered to an increasing extent among privileged youth.

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Social Class is Dead. Long Live Social Class! Stereotype Threat among Low Socioeconomic Status Individuals

Social Justice Research ◽

10.1007/s11211-007-0047-7 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 418-432 ◽

Cited By ~ 93

Author(s):

Bettina Spencer ◽

Emanuele Castano

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Social Class ◽

Stereotype Threat ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Low Socioeconomic

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Socioeconomic status throughout life and body mass index: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cadernos de Saúde Pública ◽

10.1590/0102-311x00125518 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 35 (10) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luna Strieder Vieira ◽

Isabel Oliveira Bierhals ◽

Juliana dos Santos Vaz ◽

Fernanda de Oliveira Meller ◽

Fernando César Wehrmeister ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Body Mass Index ◽

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Life Course ◽

Social Mobility ◽

Body Mass ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

High Socioeconomic Status ◽

Low Socioeconomic

Abstract: This article aimed to systematically review the association between socioeconomic status according to the life course models and the body mass index (BMI) in adults. A review was performed following the guidelines of the PRISMA. The studies were identified in the MEDLINE/PubMed, LILACS and Web of Science databases. The eligible articles investigated the association between at least one life course model (risk accumulation, critical period or social mobility) and BMI. In order to assess the quality of the selected articles, the NOS checklist was applied to each study. Eleven articles were selected for the systematic review, and seven articles were selected for the meta-analysis. The average score and the median in the NOS checklist were 6.4, within a maximum possible score of 8 points. The most used model was social mobility. Regarding meta-analysis, there was association between lower life course socioeconomic status and BMI among women. BMI mean difference (MD) was higher among those who remained with low socioeconomic status throughout life when compared with those who maintained a high socioeconomic status (MD: 2.17, 95%CI: 1.48; 2.86). Before that, the BMI MD was higher among those with upward mobility, compared with those who maintained a high socioeconomic status throughout life (MD: 1.20, 95%CI: 0.73; 1.68). The risk of overweight was also higher among women who maintained low socioeconomic status (summary RR: 1.70, 95%CI: 1.05; 2.74); however, according to the GRADE, the studies presented very low quality evidence. For men, no association was observed. Having low socioeconomic status sometime during life is associated with higher BMI in adulthood.

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Context Shapes Human Development

10.1093/oso/9780190492908.003.0008 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Çiğdem Kağıtçıbaşı ◽

Zeynep Cemalcılar

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Social Class ◽

Low Socioeconomic Status ◽

Change Theory ◽

Family Characteristics ◽

Family Change ◽

Low Socioeconomic ◽

Context Shapes ◽

The Impact

This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive perspective on human behavior by studying the role of the distal environment on developmental processes. Social class, or more specifically socioeconomic status, is an all-encompassing context that has great significance in engulfing human phenomena. This chapter first reviews extant psychological literature on the deleterious effects of low social class on development and presents three studies as cases in point, demonstrating the significant impact of the context and contextual change on behavior. Kağıtçıbaşı’s theory of family change proposes three models of family: family of interdependence, family of independence, and family of emotional interdependence. Parenting, however, directly reflects family characteristics. Thus family change theory has led to a theory of the autonomous-related self. The chapter also presents research illustrating the impact of the objective environment and in particular the detrimental effects of low socioeconomic status on various developmental, social, and academic outcomes of Turkish samples.

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