Addressing Social Inequality in Aging by the Danish Occupational Social Class Measurement

Background: Intake of sugar sweetened soft drinks (SSSD) has decreased among adolescents, but trends in social inequality in SSSD intake are unknown. Aim: Examine trends in social inequality in SSSD intake among adolescents in Denmark during 2002–2018. Methods: Five Health Behaviour in School-aged Children surveys with data on SSSD intake and parents’ occupational social class (OSC) from nationally representative samples of 11, 13 and 15 year olds, n =20,112. Results: The overall prevalence of daily SSSD intake decreased from 10.1% in 2002 to 6.4% in 2018. The prevalence decreased in both high OSC (from 8% to 5%) and middle OSC (from 10% to 6%) but remained around 12% in low OSC. The odds ratio (OR) estimates of low compared with high OSC increased over the years around an overall OR of 2.01 (1.74–2.34). Conclusions: Danish adolescents’ SSSD intake decreased during 2002–2018 and was higher the lower the parents’ OSC. Thus, social inequality increased during 2002–2018.

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Increasing prevalence of emotional symptoms in higher socioeconomic strata: Trend study among Danish schoolchildren 1991–2014

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/1403494817752520 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 47 (7) ◽

pp. 690-694 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Pernille Due ◽

Mogens T. Damsgaard ◽

Katrine R. Madsen ◽

Line Nielsen ◽

Signe B. Rayce ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Social Inequality ◽

Emotional Symptoms ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

School Aged Children ◽

Increasing Trend ◽

Symptom Check List ◽

Occupational Social Class ◽

Socioeconomic Strata ◽

Relative Differences

Aims: The aims of this study were: (a) to examine trends in daily emotional symptoms among 11- to 15-year-olds from 1991 to 2014 in Denmark, and (b) to examine trends in social inequality in daily emotional symptoms, that is, whether the differences in prevalence between adolescents with parents of varying occupational social class changed over time. Methods: We combined seven comparable cross-sectional Health Behaviour in School-aged Children surveys ( N=31,169). Daily emotional symptoms were measured by the HBSC Symptom Check List and occupational social class (OSC) by students’ reports about parents’ occupation. We calculated absolute (per cent) differences in emotional symptoms between high and low OSC and relative differences by odds ratio for emotional symptoms by parents’ OSC. Results: Eight per cent reported at least one daily emotional symptoms, with an increasing trend from 1991 to 2014 ( p<0.001). The prevalence in high, middle and low OSC was 6.2%, 7.4% and 10.6% ( p<0.0001). From 1991 to 2014, there was an increase in the prevalence of daily emotional symptoms in high ( p<0.0001) and middle ( p<0.0001) but not low OSC ( p=0.4404). This resulted in a diminishing absolute social inequality in emotional symptoms. The statistical interaction between OSC and survey year was significant ( p=0.0023) and suggests a diminishing relative social inequality in emotional symptoms from 1991 to 2014. Conclusions: There was an increasing prevalence of daily emotional symptoms from 1991 to 2014 and a diminishing social inequality in prevalence of daily emotional symptoms in terms of both absolute and relative social inequality.

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Minority status and mental distress: a comparison of group density effects

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291716001835 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (14) ◽

pp. 3051-3059 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

P. Schofield ◽

J. Das-Munshi ◽

L. Bécares ◽

C. Morgan ◽

V. Bhavsar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Ethnic Group ◽

Mental Distress ◽

Attempted Suicide ◽

Common Mental Disorders ◽

Individual Characteristics ◽

Minority Status ◽

Psychotic Experiences ◽

Occupational Social Class

BackgroundIt has been observed that mental disorders, such as psychosis, are more common for people in some ethnic groups in areas where their ethnic group is less common. We set out to test whether this ethnic density effect reflects minority status in general, by looking at three situations where individual characteristics differ from what is usual in a locality.MethodUsing data from the South East London Community Health study (n = 1698) we investigated associations between minority status (defined by: ethnicity, household status and occupational social class) and risk of psychotic experiences, common mental disorders and parasuicide. We used a multilevel logistic model to examine cross-level interactions between minority status at individual and neighbourhood levels.ResultsBeing Black in an area where this was less common (10%) was associated with higher odds of psychotic experiences [odds ratio (OR) 1.34 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07–1.67], and attempted suicide (OR 1.84 95% CI 1.19–2.85). Living alone where this was less usual (10% less) was associated with increased odds of psychotic experiences (OR 2.18 95% CI 0.91–5.26), while being in a disadvantaged social class where this was less usual (10% less) was associated with increased odds of attempted suicide (OR 1.33 95% CI 1.03–1.71). We found no evidence for an association with common mental disorders.ConclusionsThe relationship between minority status and mental distress was most apparent when defined in terms of broad ethnic group but was also observed for individual household status and occupational social class.

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Social class based on occupation is associated with hospitalization for A(H1N1)pdm09 infection. Comparison between hospitalized and ambulatory cases

Epidemiology and Infection ◽

10.1017/s0950268815001892 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 144 (4) ◽

pp. 732-740 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

J. PUJOL ◽

P. GODOY ◽

N. SOLDEVILA ◽

J. CASTILLA ◽

F. GONZÁLEZ-CANDELAS ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Influenza Vaccination ◽

Protective Factor ◽

Conditional Logistic Regression ◽

Corticosteroid Treatment ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Occupational Class ◽

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽

Conditional Logistic Regression Analysis ◽

Occupational Social Class

SUMMARYThis study aimed to analyse the existence of an association between social class (categorized by type of occupation) and the occurrence of A(H1N1)pmd09 infection and hospitalization for two seasons (2009–2010 and 2010–2011). This multicentre study compared ambulatory A(H1N1)pmd09 confirmed cases with ambulatory controls to measure risk of infection, and with hospitalized A(H1N1)pmd09 confirmed cases to asses hospitalization risk. Study variables were: age, marital status, tobacco and alcohol use, pregnancy, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic respiratory failure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic liver disease, body mass index >40, systemic corticosteroid treatment and influenza vaccination status. Occupation was registered literally and coded into manual and non-manual worker occupational social class groups. A conditional logistic regression analysis was performed. There were 720 hospitalized cases, 996 ambulatory cases and 1062 ambulatory controls included in the study. No relationship between occupational social class and A(H1N1)pmd09 infection was found [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0·97, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0·74–1·27], but an association (aOR 1·53, 95% CI 1·01–2·31) between occupational class and hospitalization for A(H1N1)pmd09 was observed. Influenza vaccination was a protective factor for A(H1N1)pmd09 infection (aOR 0·41, 95% CI 0·23–0·73) but not for hospitalization. We conclude that manual workers have the highest risk of hospitalization when infected by influenza than other occupations but they do not have a different probability of being infected by influenza.

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Do Surveys Overestimate or Underestimate Socioeconomic Differences in Voter Turnout? Evidence from Administrative Registers

Public Opinion Quarterly ◽

10.1093/poq/nfz022 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 83 (2) ◽

pp. 363-385 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Hannu Lahtinen ◽

Pekka Martikainen ◽

Mikko Mattila ◽

Hanna Wass ◽

Lauri Rapeli

Keyword(s):

Social Class ◽

Social Desirability ◽

Voter Turnout ◽

Socioeconomic Inequality ◽

Nonresponse Bias ◽

Socioeconomic Differences ◽

Parliamentary Elections ◽

Previous Evidence ◽

Survey Techniques ◽

Occupational Social Class

Abstract Surveys generally overestimate the overall level of voter turnout in elections due to both the misreporting of voting and nonresponse. It is sometimes argued that socioeconomic differences in turnout are exaggerated in surveys because social desirability has a more pronounced effect on eligible voters in more advantaged socioeconomic positions. However, the contribution of nonresponse bias has not been taken into consideration in these assessments. Using a register-linked survey with information on the education, occupational social class, income, and voting in the 2015 Finnish parliamentary elections of both respondents and nonrespondents, this study shows that nonresponse bias leads to not only a larger overestimation of the overall level of turnout than social desirability, but also an underestimation of educational, social class, and income-related differences in the propensity to vote. Socioeconomic differences in the probability of voting in register-based data were at least two-thirds larger than differences obtained when using standard survey techniques. This finding implies that socioeconomic inequality in electoral participation is a more pressing social problem than previous evidence might indicate.

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Poor health, physical workload and occupational social class as determinants of health-related job loss: results from a prospective cohort study in the UK

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026423 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (7) ◽

pp. e026423 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ranu Sewdas ◽

Allard J van der Beek ◽

Cecile R L Boot ◽

Stefania D’Angelo ◽

Holly E Syddall ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Social Class ◽

Older Workers ◽

Job Loss ◽

Poor Health ◽

Physical Workload ◽

Perceived Health Status ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Health Related ◽

Occupational Social Class

ObjectivesThe aims of the present study were to assess the association and interactions of physical workload and poor health with health-related job loss (HRJL) among older workers, and the association and interactions of occupational social class and poor health with HRJL.MethodsData were used from an existing prospective cohort study, Health and Employment after Fifty, where employed or self-employed workers aged 50–64 years (n=4909) were followed-up between 2014 and 2016. Associations between potential determinants (self-perceived health status, physical workload and occupational social class) and 2-year HRJL were examined by Cox regression analyses. To study whether physical workload or occupational social class moderates the influence of poor health on HRJL, additive and multiplicative interactions were calculated.ResultsOlder workers with poor self-perceived health status had increased risk of HRJL during the 2-year follow-up period (men: HR 2.57 (95%CI: 1.68 to 3.92); women: HR 3.26 (95%CI: 2.33 to 4.55)). Furthermore, men with high physical workload were at increased risk for HRJL (HR 1.63 (95%CI: 1.09 to 2.43)). No significant interactions (p<0.05) were identified between poor health and high physical workload, nor between poor health and lower occupational social class.ConclusionOur study indicates that older workers in poor health, and older workers with a physically demanding job, are at increased risk of HRJL. Having a physically demanding job or working in routine/manual occupations does not moderate the association between poor health and HRJL.

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Dietary glycaemic index and cognitive function: prospective associations in adults of the 1946 British birth cohort

Public Health Nutrition ◽

10.1017/s136898001800352x ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (8) ◽

pp. 1415-1424 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Elena Philippou ◽

Gerda K Pot ◽

Alexandros Heraclides ◽

Marcus Richards ◽

Rebecca Bendayan

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Function ◽

Social Class ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Birth Cohort ◽

Verbal Memory ◽

Glycaemic Index ◽

Life Course Perspective ◽

Occupational Social Class ◽

Rate Of Decline ◽

Letter Search

AbstractObjectiveEvidence suggests that the rate of glucose release following consumption of carbohydrate-containing foods, defined as the glycaemic index (GI), is inversely associated with cognitive function. To date, most of the evidence stems from either single-meal studies or highly heterogeneous cohort studies. We aimed to study the prospective associations of diet GI at age 53 years with outcomes of verbal memory and letter search tests at age 69 years and rate of decline between 53 and 69 years.DesignLongitudinal population-based birth cohort study.SettingMRC National Survey for Health and Development.ParticipantsCohort members (n 1252).ResultsUsing multivariable linear and logistic regression, adjusted for potential confounders, associations of higher-GI diet with lower verbal memory, lower letter search speed and lower number of hits in a letter search test were attenuated after adjustments for cognitive ability at age 15 years, educational attainment, further training and occupational social class. No association was observed between diet GI at 53 years and letter search accuracy or speed–accuracy trade-off at 69 years, or between diet GI at 53 years and rate of decline between 53 and 69 years in any cognitive measure.ConclusionsDiet GI does not appear to predict cognitive function or decline, which was mainly explained by childhood cognitive ability, education and occupational social class. Our findings confirm the need for further research on the association between diet and cognition from a life-course perspective.

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