Does Growing Childhood Socioeconomic Inequality Mean Future Inequality in Adult Health?

Neighbourhood characteristics and socioeconomic inequalities in child mental health: Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from the Growing Up in Ireland study

This study examined the role of neighbourhood characteristics in explaining socioeconomic inequalities in child mental health (the total difficulties score from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) using data from Cohort '08 of Growing Up in Ireland Waves 3 (age 5; baseline) and 5 (age 9; follow-up). Twenty neighbourhood items were grouped into neighbourhood safety, built environments, cohesion, interaction, and disorder. Data were analysed using regression, single and multiple mediation, and network psychometric analyses. We found that neighbourhood safety, cohesion, interaction, and disorder were associated with child mental health. These four domains separately (by up to 18 %) or in concert (by up to 23 %) partially explained socioeconomic inequalities in child mental health. Built environments may explain socioeconomic inequalities in mental health in urban children only. Findings from network analysis indicated that specific concerns over "people being drunk or taking drugs in public" and "this is a safe neighbourhood" had the strongest connections with child mental health. Improving neighbourhood characteristics may be important to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in child mental health in Ireland.

Early socioeconomic status, social mobility and cognitive trajectories in later life: A life course perspective

Using the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 2008 to 2018 accompanied by the growth curve model, we examined the association between early socioeconomic status, social mobility, and divergent cognitive trajectories in later life within a society undergoing significant transformation. The study confirmed a positive relationship between socioeconomic status in early life and cognitive ability in later life. However, socioeconomic status in adulthood is associated with better cognitive ability in old age compared to that in childhood. Meanwhile, upward social mobility mitigates the negative correlation between socioeconomic disadvantage in early life and cognitive ability in later life. In addition, the inequality in socioeconomic status at earlier stages resulted in heterogeneous cognitive trajectories, with the double cumulative disadvantage effect resulting from education being particularly noteworthy. Thus, Chinese health policy should focus on the earlier stages of life, actively promoting inclusive family policies and improving the family's role in protecting childhood from an adverse environment. Simultaneously, education and employment fairness should be strengthened to accelerate social mobility and enhance the "Health Repair Mechanism" of the second life course.

Intersecting Early-Life Selection Mechanisms: Socio-Historical Changes in Racially Stratified Effects of Education on Functional Limitations in the United States

OBJECTIVE

Scant research has focused on the role of sociohistorical changes in shaping intersecting early-life selection mechanisms and their impacts on racially stratified effects of education on health across cohorts.

METHOD

Drawing from the Health and Retirement Survey, this study fitted negative binomial regression models to assess the impacts of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) on the relationship between education and functional limitations for Black and White adults across birth cohorts (n = 16,269, born 1931-1959).

RESULTS

The disparities between Black adults and White adults in impacts of childhood SES on both education and functional limitations were more pronounced in recent cohorts. The racial stratification in the impacts of education on functional limitations was documented across cohorts. However, after adjusting for childhood SES, this stratification narrowed considerably in recent cohorts.

DISCUSSION

This study underscores the role of a sociohistorical context in shaping the effects of education on health at the intersection of race and cohort.

Childhood socioeconomic status, adulthood obesity and health: The role of parental permanent and transitory income

Children from low SES backgrounds experience long-term economic deprivation in addition to excessive income volatility during childhood. Little is known about whether parental income influences adulthood weight and health through either prolonged or transitory hardship. Using the intergenerational feature of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we link parents' income records from a 47-year panel (1968-2015 waves) to health outcomes of 3976 adult children (1999-2015 waves) in the United States. We calculate parental permanent income to measure prolonged disadvantages, as well as transitory income peaks and valleys at various early-life stages to measure transitory advantages and disadvantages, respectively. Our findings show that parental permanent income is negatively associated with obesity and adverse health outcomes in multiple adulthood stages. We also detect negative associations between transitory income peaks in adolescence and adverse weight and health outcomes. Our findings provide strong empirical support for the influence of prolonged material hardship on adverse weight and health outcomes and no support for the influence of transitory material hardship. Our findings also show that policies that improve parental permanent income and provide higher transitory income are essential to generate healthier adults.

Intercohort Variations in the Education-Health Gradient: Sociohistorical Changes in Early-Life Selection Mechanisms in the United States

OBJECTIVES

Most prior studies on cohort-specific changes in the education gradient relative to health treat the distribution of education within a particular cohort as a "starting place" for understanding later-life health disparities. This premise has obfuscated the role that sociohistorical changes in early-life selection mechanisms play in the widening of education-based inequalities in functional limitations across birth cohorts.

METHODS

Drawing from the Health and Retirement Survey (1992-2016; n = 20,920), this study employs inverse probability weight (IPW) to account for early-life selection mechanisms that are likely to affect both educational attainment and functional limitations. IPW-adjusted generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the total effect of education on functional limitations across birth cohorts (born 1924-1959).

RESULTS

A significant linear decline in the negative effects of childhood socioeconomic disadvantage on education (β = 0.005, p < .01) over the birth year was documented. By contrast, the same variable's negative effect on functional health increased significantly (β = 0.006, p < .001) across cohorts. Adjustment for childhood socioeconomic status did yield narrower education-based inequalities in functional limitations, but the difference between IPW-adjusted and unadjusted results was not statistically significant. The pattern of significant widening of education-based inequalities (β = -0.05, p < .001) in functional limitations across birth cohorts was maintained.

DISCUSSION

This study underscores the role that sociohistorical changes in early-life selection mechanisms play in modifying patterns of education-based inequalities in health across cohorts.

The impact of childhood experience of starvations on the health of older adults: Evidence from China

This paper used pooled cross-sectional data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey to comprehensively investigate how childhood experiences of starvation affect the health of older Chinese adults. The study found that the childhood experience of starvation was negatively correlated with self-rated health, functional health and cognitive health among older adults. After using the model and variable substitution methods to address the endogeneity problems caused by omitted variables, the negative effects of childhood experiences of starvation on the health of older adults were still present. The Karlson-Holm-Breen decomposition method was used to test the mediation effects, and it was found that childhood experiences of starvation had adverse effects on the health of older adults through endowment insurance, household income, education and nutrition. Consequently, the government should strengthen nutrition or other related health interventions for children and make longer-term plans for improving the health of older adults.

Life Course Pathways From Childhood Socioeconomic Status to Later-Life Cognition: Evidence From the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

OBJECTIVES

A growing body of research indicates that older adults are at greater risk for poorer cognition if they experienced low socioeconomic status (SES) as children. Guided by life course epidemiology, this study aimed to advance understanding of processes through which childhood SES influences cognition decades later, with attention to the role of scholastic performance in adolescence and SES in midlife.

METHOD

We used data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which has followed a cohort of high school graduates since they were 18 years old in 1957. Childhood SES was measured prospectively in adolescence, and measures of memory and language/executive functioning were based on neurocognitive assessments at age 72. We used participants' scores on a statewide standardized test in high school as an indicator of scholastic performance in adolescence. The measure of SES in midlife included years of postsecondary education, income, and occupation status at age 53.

RESULTS

Findings from structural equation models indicated that scholastic performance in adolescence and midlife status attainment together fully mediated associations between childhood SES and both memory and language/executive functioning at age 72. Adolescent scholastic performance was directly associated with later-life cognition, as well as indirectly through midlife status attainment.

DISCUSSION

Findings provide support for both latency and social pathway processes when considering how SES in childhood influences later-life cognition. Results contribute to growing calls for social policies and programs to support optimal brain health at multiple phases throughout the life course, especially among individuals with lower SES as children.

Does the duration of childhood starvation affect life at age 45 or older in China? The mediating role of socioeconomic and health statuses

This study investigated the impact of the duration of childhood starvation experience on life satisfaction among Chinese people and examined whether and how socioeconomic and health statuses mediated this association. Data were derived from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a nationwide social survey project that was conducted among Chinese individuals aged 45 or older in 2014. The results show that the duration of childhood starvation experience was significantly negatively associated with life satisfaction, and socioeconomic and health statuses mediated this relationship. The findings suggested that more interventions should be conducted among people who have experienced childhood starvation.

Socioeconomic Status and Biological Risks for Health and Illness Across the Life Course

OBJECTIVES

We assess the temporal properties and biosocial mechanisms underlying the associations between early-life socioeconomic status (SES) and later health. Using a life-course design spanning adolescence to older adulthood, we assess how early life and various dimensions of adult SES are associated with immune and metabolic function in different life stages and examine possible bio-behavioral and psychosocial mechanisms underlying these associations.

METHOD

Data for this study come from 3 national studies that collectively cover multiple stages of the life course (Add Health, MIDUS, and HRS). We estimated generalized linear models to examine the prospective associations between early-life SES, adult SES, and biomarkers of chronic inflammation and metabolic disorder assessed at follow-up. We further conducted formal tests of mediation to assess the role of adult SES in linking early SES to biological functions.

RESULTS

We found that early-life SES exerted consistent protective effects for metabolic disorder across the life span, but waned with time for CRP. The protective effect of respondent education remained persistent for CRP but declined with age for metabolic disorder. Adult income and assets primarily protected respondents against physiological dysregulation in middle and old ages, but not in early adulthood.

DISCUSSION

These findings are the first to elucidate the life-course patterns of SES that matter for underlying physiological functioning during the aging process to produce social gradients in health.

School Context in Adolescence and Cognitive Functioning 50 Years Later

To advance understanding of how social inequalities from childhood might contribute to cognitive aging, we examined the extent to which school context in adolescence was associated with individuals' cognitive performance more than 50 years later. Using data from 3,012 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), we created an aggregate measure of school-level structural advantage, with indicators such as the proportion of teachers who had at least five years of teaching experience and spending per pupil. Multilevel models indicated that secondary school advantage was associated with small benefits in language/executive function at age 65 among older adults who had lower academic achievement in secondary school. Findings suggest that school advantage is a developmental context of adolescence that has modest implications for intracohort differences in aspects of later life cognition.

Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Later Life Cognition: Evidence From the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

Objectives:This study examined childhood socioeconomic status (SES) as a predictor of later life cognition and the extent to which midlife SES accounts for associations. Methods: Data came from 5,074 participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Measures from adolescence included parents' educational attainment, father's occupational status, and household income. Memory and language/executive function were assessed at ages 65 and 72 years. Results: Global childhood SES was a stronger predictor of baseline levels of language/executive function than baseline memory. Associations involving parents' education were reduced in size and by statistical significance when accounting for participants' midlife SES, whereas associations involving parental income and occupational status became statistically nonsignificant. We found no associations between childhood SES and change in cognition. Discussion: Findings contribute to growing evidence that socioeconomic differences in childhood have potential consequences for later life cognition, particularly in terms of the disparate levels of cognition with which people enter later life.