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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Social class, social support and obesity risk in children.

Selected characteristics of the social environment are tested as predictors of children's risk for obesity. Data were collected during the summer of 1991 at the University of South Alabama Springhill Paediatric Clinic (Mobile, AL, USA). Data were collected on 77 children, aged 2.5-5 years, and their primary caretaker. Obesity risk was measured by the child's weight for height score and calorie intake. Caretaker's socio-economic status, marital status, and social support predict children's obesity risk for this sample. Lower social class position, lower expressive social support, and unmarried status of the caretaker are associated with a higher calorie intake and a higher weight for height score in the child.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

The roles of social class of origin, achieved social class and intergenerational social mobility in explaining social-class inequalities in alcoholism among young men.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of intergenerational health-related mobility in explaining social-class inequalities in alcoholism among young men. Data on social class of origin and on risk factors in childhood and adolescence, e.g. risk use of alcohol, were collected for 49,323 men, born 1949-51, at enlistment for compulsory military training in 1969/70. Information on achieved socioeconomic class was obtained from Sweden's 1975 census. Data on alcoholism diagnoses were collected from the national in-patient care register 1976-83. Risk indicators for alcoholism established in adolescence were found to be more common among downwardly mobile individuals, and also among stable manual workers, than among those who ended up as non-manual employees. Downwardly mobile individuals, and also stable manual workers, were also found to have an increased risk of alcoholism diagnosis. The increased relative risk could, to a considerable extent, be attributed to factors from childhood/adolescence. In this longitudinal study, it is shown that intergenerational social mobility associated with health-related factors, albeit not with illness itself, made a major contribution to explaining differences in alcoholism between social classes. Factors established in adolescence were important with regard to differences in alcoholism between social classes among young adults. But such adverse conditions did not seem to be well reflected by social class of origin.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Social class and social mobility in depressed patients.

In the present study current social class, parental social class and social mobility have been compared in a series of 111 depressed patients of different diagnostic subgroups and of 97 non-psychiatric controls. Social class III was shown to be overrepresented in the unipolar, bipolar and unspecified groups. However, no differences concerning parental social class emerged. Unipolar and bipolar patients were more downwardly mobile than the neurotic depressives, the unspecified depressives and the controls.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Social class and social mobility--effects on survival. A study of an entire birth cohort during an 80-year life span.

The survival of all individuals living within a limited area (N = 489), born in 1902 and 1903, were studied from birth until 80 years of age according to parents' social class, own social class, and occupational mobility. There were no statistical significant differences in survival according to parents' social class. Bivariate survival analysis between 20-80 years of age, based on own social class, shown no significant differences. Concerning social mobility, when males and females were analyzed separately, those men with no mobility had a significantly lower survival rate than those with downward or upward mobility. For women there was no such difference in survival. In a multivariate survival analysis among eight social factors, sex and marital status had the greatest effect on survival between 20-80 years of age. Widows and widowers had, unexpectedly, a higher survival compared to married and never married persons.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Income redistribution effect of the Swedish sickness allowance insurance in a comparison of two concepts of social class.

Social insurances effect income distributions between social strata. Here, insurance returns in relation to income are studied on the Swedish sickness allowance insurance, which is intended to redistribute from higher to lower social strata. Two measures of social class are used, the socio-economic classification, the official index of Sweden, and a structural class concept, which in earlier results discriminates better for material factors such as income and work conditions. The material consists of all sickness cases of 1983 for 3,161 persons, sampled from insurance registers and cross-classified with registers at taxation authorities. Data on insurance returns, incomes, and occupation are used. Results clearly confirm the intended redistribution effect, but considerably clearer with the structural class concept. The effect is even stronger than intended for some strata, where the system seems to lack in implementation. The consequences for choice of class measure are finally discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Lead, IQ and social class.

Social class (SC) conveys information about a child's potential lead exposure (PB) as well as other, independent determinants of cognition (IQ). Thus, depending on the way in which SC is handled in statistical analyses, the PB-IQ association may be either 'overadjusted' or 'underadjusted' for SC. Two assumptions that underlie the inclusion of SC in correlation/regression analyses of the PB-IQ relationship are: 1) SC is an interval scale and 2) the PB-IQ relationship is homogeneous in all social strata. Simulation analyses are presented to illustrate the impact that different values of the bivariate correlations PB-SC, IQ-SC, and PB-IQ have on the estimate of the PB-IQ adjusted for SC. Alternative approaches to addressing these issues are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Effect of parental social class, own education and social class on mortality among young men.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study is to examine the effects of parental class, own education and social class on mortality by cause of death among young men. METHODS: The study is based on 1990 census records for 186,408 Finnish men, aged 30-34 in 1990, linked with death records for 1991-95 (1530 deaths). RESULTS: Parental class was associated with all-cause (Index of Relative Dissimilarity (IRD) = 12%) and cause-specific mortality before adjustment for one's own social class and education. Adjustment reduced the IRD by 18-58%, depending on the cause of death, and caused mortality differences to disappear for causes other than cardiovascular diseases and those related to alcohol. The unadjusted variation in all-cause mortality by educational attainment (IRD = 33%) and by own class (IRD = 38%) was greater than by parental class. Adjustment for parental class had only a minor effect on the variation by education and own class. Adjustment for own class reduced the IRD for education in all-cause mortality by 31%, in mortality from disease by 17%, and in mortality from external causes by 33%. For own class the reductions in the IRD obtained by adjustment for education were 36%, 46%, and 33%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of parental class on the mortality of young men is indirect and mainly mediated through its influence on education and social class. The effect of education on mortality is as strong as that of occupation-based social class. These variables are not interchangeable measures of socioeconomic status; they both should be taken into account in studies on inequalities in mortality.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

A multivariate analysis of the association between social class of origin and current social class with self-rated general health and psychological health among 16-year-old Australians.

BACKGROUND: A recent review of international literature concludes that there is a relative absence of social class differentials in health in early youth. There is an absence of Australian studies on the effect of social class on the health of this age group. AIMS: To examine the association between social class and health among 16-year-old Australians. METHODS: The data on 1048 16-year-olds came from the fifth wave (1993) of the Australian Youth Survey conducted by the former Department of Employment, Education and Training. Outcome measures were self-rated general health and psychological health (GHQ-12). Binary logistic regression was used to analyse data. RESULTS: Neither social class of origin nor current social class was associated with self-rated general health or psychological health. CONCLUSION: The argument that social class inequalities in health exist in childhood, disappear during early youth, and reappear later appears to hold ground within the Australian context.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Barriers to medical care of Mexican-Americans: the role of social class, acculturation, and social isolation.

Literature on medical care utilization by Mexican-Americans suggests that patterns of utilization can be explained, in part, by acculturation, social class and social isolation. The relative importance of these variables is explored in a survey of a rural Mexican-American community in Southern Texas. Data on 152 families are analyzed using a logit analysis, with utilization as the outcome variable. The results suggest that acculturation has a direct effect, while social class and social isolation interact to have a weak effect independent of acculturation. These results confirm the importance of understanding all three variables in planning and implementing medical care programs in Mexican-American communities.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Social class differences in social support among older adults.

The purpose of this study is to test for social class differences in social support among older adults. Data on a comprehensive range of social support measures provided by a nationwide sample of elderly people suggests that social class differences emerge when measures of contact with friends, support provided to others, and satisfaction with support are examined. However, significant differences fail to emerge with indicators of contact with family, support received from others, and negative interaction.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Social class and suicidal behaviour: the associations between social class and the characteristics of deliberate self-harm patients and the treatment they are offered.

BACKGROUND: Rates of deliberate self-harm (DSH) in the United Kingdom are much higher in lower than upper social class groups. Previous investigations have shown differences in socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of male patients according to social class. In two studies of DSH patients in Edinburgh the extent of provision of psychiatric aftercare was inversely related to social class. These findings have not been investigated in other areas. METHOD: Data collected through the Oxford Monitoring System for Attempted Suicide were used to examine the association between social class and socio-demographic and clinical characteristics in male and female DSH patients who presented to the general hospital in Oxford between mid-1988 and 1996 and to determine whether the previously reported social class differences in provision of psychiatric aftercare were replicated. RESULTS: Data on social class were available for 2,828 DSH patients (1,290 males, 1,538 females). In both genders, lower social class group tended to be associated with younger age. In males, the main social class differences were found in under-35-year-olds, in whom lower social class was related to criminal record, violence to others and drug misuse. In females, psychiatric disorders were diagnosed more frequently in the higher social class groups, but only in the under-35 age group. In neither gender was there a significant association between social class and the frequency of offer of psychiatric aftercare following DSH. CONCLUSIONS: There are considerable variations in socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of both male and female DSH patients in different social classes, especially in younger patients. The reason for the absence of a marked social class gradient in psychiatric aftercare found in this study in contrast to the results from previous investigations may be related to differences in styles of service.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Functional recovery after myocardial infarction in men: the independent effects of social class.

BACKGROUND: Social class has been repeatedly associated with cardiovascular-related illness and death, but no studies have examined the effect of social class on recovery from myocardial infarction. Moreover, few studies have simultaneously evaluated a broad array of f1p4graphic, clinical, and psychosocial factors that may influence health outcomes after myocardial infarction. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether social class remains independently associated with functional recovery after myocardial infarction, even after controlling for clinical, demographic, and psychosocial factors known to influence outcomes after infarction. DESIGN: Analysis of prospective data from a multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical trial. SETTING: 25 hospitals or clinical settings in the United States and Canada that participated in the Beta Blocker Heart Attack Trial, including the Health Insurance Plan substudy. PATIENTS: 2145 men 29 to 69 years of age who were hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction and were recruited into the Beta Blocker Heart Attack Trial. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was change in New York Heart Association functional class between baseline assessment and 12 months after infarction, dichotomized as improved or not improved (that is, no change, decline in at least one category, or death). RESULTS: Social class maintained its independent effect on improved functional status, even after controlling for pertinent prognostic factors. Persons of high social class were significantly more likely than persons of low or middle social class to have improved functional status 1 year after infarction. Certain clinical, demographic, and psychosocial features were related to recovery, but the effect of social class could not be explained by these additional features. CONCLUSIONS: Social class has a substantial influence on recovery from myocardial infarction and may explain differences in clinical outcomes.

Activities of Daily Living↗