Intergenerational transmission of health inequalities: research agenda for a life course approach to socioeconomic inequalities in health.
J Epidemiol Community Health
; 78(10): 650-653, 2024 08 25.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38991761
ABSTRACT
Explanations for socioeconomic inequalities in adult health are usually sought in behaviours and environments in adulthood. Yet, there is compelling evidence that the first two decades of life contribute substantially to both adult socioeconomic position (SEP) and adult health. This has implications for explanatory health inequalities research.We propose an analytical framework to advance research on the intergenerational transmission of health inequalities, that is, on intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic and associated health (dis)advantages at the family level, and its contribution to health inequalities at the population level. The framework distinguishes three transmission pathways (1) intergenerational transmission of SEP, with effects on offspring health fully mediated by offspring SEP; (2) intergenerational transmission of health problems affecting SEP and (3) intergenerational transmission of both SEP and health, without a causal relationship between offspring adult SEP and health. We describe areas for future research along this framework and discuss the challenges and opportunities to advance this field.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Socioeconomic Factors
/
Intergenerational Relations
/
Health Status Disparities
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Epidemiol Community Health
/
J. epidemiol. community health (1979)
/
Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979)
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Netherlands
Country of publication:
United kingdom