Socioeconomic Status and Health Behavior in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Literature Review

Background:Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important determinant of health behaviors in individuals and contributes to a complex relationship with health. Because of this complexity, the relationship between SES and health behavior is still unclear. Thus, this literature review aims to assess the association between socioeconomic inequalities and health behaviors in children and adolescents from both developed and developing countries.Methods:Preferred Reporting for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis protocol (PRISMA-P) guideline was used to conduct a systematic literature review. The electronic online databases EBSCO Host, PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct were utilized to systematically search the published articles. Joanna Briggs Institute of critical appeal tool was deployed to assess the quality of included studies. Eligibilities criteria such as study population, study design, study type, study objective, language, and publication date were used to identify the relevant literature that measured the association between socioeconomic status and health behaviors.Results:Out of 1483 articles, only 31 met the final eligibility criteria and were assessed in this paper. Out of these studies: ten, nine, seven and five studies identified a positive association between socioeconomic status (SES) and (a) drinking alcohol; (b) physical activity; (c) fruits and vegetable consumption; (d) consumption of a healthy diet respectively. On the other hand, a negative association between SES and smoking and SES and consumption of cannabis were found by eleven and one study respectively among the children and adolescents. Conclusions:This review study found that the problem of health behaviors is continuing to be a major concern in children and adolescents, particularly those who are of low socioeconomic status. The findings of this study revealed that some specific intervention packages are needed for reducing these damaging health behaviors and enhancing the protective health behaviors in those children and adolescents from a low socioeconomic status.

The broker role in societal activation of long-term welfare recipients: A jack of all trades?

Summary Socioeconomic status and health are strongly related to the ability of a person to participate in society. Acting upon activation and employment possibilities is difficult for several groups. One group described as especially hard to activate is long-term welfare recipients. In the current study, the role of an activation broker was studied as a supplementary practice to regular support practices. A qualitative research design using an analysis of the administrative logbook of the activation broker and interviews with professionals ( n = 8) and long-term welfare recipients ( n = 10) was carried out. To structure the retrieved data, the Activation Broker Wheel was developed. Findings Seven core behaviours were identified and categorized in three determinants; capabilities, opportunities and motivation. Contextual factors supporting the activation broker approach were selected. The activation broker approach was found to be successful in activating long-term welfare recipients. Applications The behaviours, determinants and context made visible within the Activation Broker Wheel provided insight into workable elements that may help future activation brokers to optimize their support.

Advancing the Science of Well-Being

We question use of the term “well-being” to encompass notably distinct phenomena (objective indicators of socioeconomic status and health, subjective indicators of psychological experience) and dispute characterization of the field of well-being as relatively new. We also call for greater interplay between government surveys and multiuse cohort studies, both of which increasingly focus on well-being. The MIDUS study is presented as an example of how to negotiate distinct disciplinary priorities in broad-based studies of well-being and health, including those that take context seriously. We conclude with explanations for why we do not endorse any of the measurement recommendations (single-item measures, 4- to 6-item measures, multi-item assessments) put forth in the preceding chapter, arguing that the ultra-short assessments ignore extensive prior science documenting the complex, multifaceted nature of well-being, while the proposed longer assessment (Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving) suffers from multiple problems including a questionable conceptual foundation, inadequate evidence of validity and reliability, and highly redundant items.

Childhood Abuse and Cognitive Function in a Large Cohort of Middle-Aged Women

Cognitive function at middle age is of particular public health interest, as it strongly predicts later dementia. Children who have experienced abuse subsequently have worse cognitive function than those who have not. However, it remains unclear whether the association of abuse with cognitive function persists into middle age. In 2014–2016, 14,151 women ages 49–69 years who had previously responded to a childhood abuse questionnaire completed a cognitive battery. In models adjusted for childhood socioeconomic status and head trauma, combined physical, emotional, and sexual abuse was associated with lower scores on both Learning/Working Memory (severe abuse, lower scores similar to that observed in women 4.8 years older in our data) and Psychomotor Speed/Attention (severe abuse, lower scores similar to that observed in women to 2.9 years older in our data). Adjustment for adulthood socioeconomic status and health factors (e.g., smoking, hypertension) slightly attenuated associations. In exploratory analyses further adjusted for psychological distress, associations were attenuated. Women exposed versus unexposed to childhood abuse had poorer cognitive function at mid-life. Associations were particularly strong for learning and working memory and were not accounted for by adulthood health factors. Childhood abuse should be investigated as a potential risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia in old age.

Socioeconomic status and health-compromising behaviour: Is it all about perception?

Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with many health issues and health-compromising behaviour (HCB). Most research is based on objective indicators of SES, even though subjective SES, someone’s perception of their social standing, is also related to health. Moreover, perceptions of health and HCB might also be of importance. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between both objective and subjective SES and perceived health and HCB respectively, and the role of perceptions of HCB. 326 respondents completed measures of objective and subjective SES, perceived health, HCB and perceptions of HCB. Results showed objective and subjective SES were related to perceived health. Only subjective SES was related to HCB, while for objective SES a moderating effect of perceiving HCB as typically high or low SES was found. Not only objective SES, but especially perceptions of SES and HCB are associated with someone feeling healthy and engaging in HCB. Health interventions should try to tackle perceptions of SES and HCB, either by invalidating current SES related perceptions or by emphasizing new healthy perceptions.