Dimensions of Social Stratification and Their Relation to Mortality: A Comparison Across Gender and Life Course Periods in Finland

The heterogeneous well-being effects of intergenerational mobility perceptions

Individuals make comparisons with their parents which determine their intergenerational mobility perceptions, yet very little is known about the areas used for intergenerational comparison and whether these matter for individuals' well-being. In 2021 we commissioned a nationally representative survey in Georgia in which we explicitly asked 1159 individuals an open-ended question on the most important areas in their intergenerational comparisons. More than 170 types of answers were provided by respondents and many of these responses went beyond the standard indicators of intergenerational mobility. We show that the areas of intergenerational comparison significantly differ between those who perceive themselves as being downwardly and upwardly mobile or immobile using the measure of mobility previously validated in cross-national research. Using, among other statistical approaches, treatment effects estimators, we demonstrate that some areas of intergenerational comparison, particularly in terms of income attainment, are significantly and consistently associated with internationally validated measures of well-being.

Migrant mortality by duration of residence and co-ethnic density - A register-based study on Finnish migrants in Sweden with matched controls in the origin and the destination

Migrant health depends on factors both at the origin and at the destination. Health-related behaviors established before migration may change at the destination. We compare the mortality rates from alcohol- and smoking-related causes and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) of Finnish migrants in Sweden to matched controls in both Sweden and Finland with similar sociodemographic characteristics. Migrant mortality rates from behavioral risk factors lie in-between the rates of non-migrants in the origin and destination. A longer duration of residence is associated with lower mortality and with mortality patterns more similar to Swedes for men. For women, a longer duration of residence is associated with higher mortality, in particular smoking-related mortality, with no tendency of a gradual convergence. The density of Finnish migrants in the local area is modestly associated with mortality. However, CVD mortality tends to be higher and more similar to the level in Finland for migrants in areas with a higher density of Finnish migrants. The results suggest that behavioral changes can reduce mortality differences between migrants and natives and that this can be either beneficial or detrimental to migrant health.

Socio-economic determinants of subjective wellbeing toward Sustainable Development Goals: An insight from a developing country

One of the goals of happiness research is to identify the key factors that influence it. Therefore, the present research is designed to examine the determining factors of subjective wellbeing (SWB) in Pakistan. The present research is conducted by collecting the data of 1,566 households in Punjab, Pakistan, using the ordered logit and tobit model. The findings of this research confirm that income, education, government effectiveness, no perceived corruption, and perceived institutional quality improve wellbeing, while lower trust in family and friends, poor health status, living on rent, and dissatisfaction with the services of hospitals lower the level of wellbeing. But individuals with more social ties, who face barriers in health services, live more happily satisfied with their lives. Crime victimization and worrisome terrorism also lower the level of SWB. Findings of research strongly emphasize policymakers and government institutions to improve their quality and take essential measures for improving the governance structure.

Pathways from Childhood Economic Conditions to Adult Mortality in a 1953 Stockholm Cohort: The Intermediate Role of Personal Attributes and Socioeconomic Career

Although both childhood and adult economic conditions have been found to be associated with mortality, independently or in combination with each other, less is known about the role of intermediate factors between these two life stages. This study explores the pathways between childhood economic conditions and adult mortality by taking personal attributes as well as adult socioeconomic career into consideration. Further, we investigate the role of intergenerational income mobility for adult mortality. We used data from a prospective cohort study of individuals that were born in 1953 and residing in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1963 who were followed for mortality between 2002 and 2021 (n = 11,325). We fit Cox proportional hazards models to assess the association of parental income, cognitive ability, social skills, educational attainment, occupational status, and adult income with mortality. The income mobility is operationalized as the interaction between parental and adult income. Our results show that the association between parental income and adult mortality is modest and largely operates through cognitive ability and adult educational attainment. However, our results do not provide support for there being an effect of intergenerational income mobility on adult mortality. In a Swedish cohort who grew up in a comparatively egalitarian society during the 1950s and 1960s, childhood economic conditions were found to play a distinct but relatively small role for later mortality.

Downward income mobility among individuals with poor initial health is linked with higher cardiometabolic risk

The effects of socioeconomic position (SEP) across life course accumulate and produce visible health inequalities between different socioeconomic groups. Yet, it is not well-understood how the experience of intergenerational income mobility between origin and destination SEP, per se, affects health outcomes. We use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health collected in the United States with the outcome measure of cardiometabolic risk (CMR) constructed from data on LDL Cholesterol, Glucose MG/DL, C-reactive protein, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and resting heart rate. Intergenerational income mobility is estimated as the difference between Waves 1 and 5 income quintiles. Diagonal reference models are used to test if intergenerational income mobility, net of origin and destination income quintile effects, is associated with CMR. We find that individuals in the lowest and the highest income quintiles have, respectively, the highest and the lowest CMR; both origin and destination income quintiles are equally important; there are no significant overall income mobility effects for different gender and race/ethnicity groups, but downward income mobility has negative health implications for individuals with poor initial health. We conclude that downward income mobility can increase inequalities in CMR in the United States by worsening the health of those who had poor health before their mobility experiences.

Beyond the social gradient: the role of lifelong socioeconomic status in older adults' health trajectories

Inequalities in older adults' health rarely consider life-course aspects of socioeconomic status (SES). We examined the association between lifelong SES and old-age health trajectories, and explored the role of lifestyle factors and depressive symptoms in this association. We followed 2760 adults aged 60+ from the Swedish National Study on Care and Aging, Kungsholmen. SES groups were derived using latent class analysis incorporating seven socioeconomic measures spanning childhood, midlife, and late life. We measured health using the Health Assessment Tool, which combines gait speed, cognition, multimorbidity, and disability. Linear mixed models were used to estimate health trajectories. Four SES groups were identified: High (34.9%), Middle (40.2%), Low (21.2%), and Mixed (3.8%). The Mixed group reported greater financial difficulties in childhood and older age, but varying SES attainment in midlife. Baseline health scores indicated that Mixed SES experienced substantial cognitive and physical deficits 12 years earlier than the High SES group. Compared to the High SES group, the Mixed SES group had the fastest health deterioration (β×time=-0.07, 95% CI:-0.11,-0.02); other groups followed a gradient (High>Middle>Low). Lifestyle factors and depressive symptoms attenuated the gradient but did not explain Mixed group's health disadvantage. Life-long SES measures are crucial for understanding older adults' health inequalities.

Manual occupations with high all-cause mortality: The contribution of socioeconomic and occupational characteristics

AIMS

Most high mortality-risk occupations are manual occupations. We examined to what extent high mortality of such occupations could be explained by education, income, unemployment or industry and whether there were differences in these effects among different manual occupations.

METHODS

We used longitudinal individual-level register-based data, the study population consisting of employees aged 30-64 at the end of the year 2000 with the follow-up period 2001-2015. We used Cox proportional hazard regression models in 31 male and 11 female occupations with high mortality.

RESULTS

There were considerable differences between manual occupations in how much adjusting for education, income, unemployment and industry explained the excess mortality. The variation was especially large among men: controlling for these variables explained over 50% of the excess mortality in 23 occupations. However, in some occupations the excess mortality even increased in relation to unadjusted mortality. Among women, these variables explained a varying proportion of the excess mortality in every occupation. After adjustment of all variables, mortality was no more statistically significantly higher than average in 14 occupations among men and 2 occupations among women.

CONCLUSIONS

The high mortality in manual occupations was mainly explained by education, income, unemployment and industry. However, the degree of explanation varied widely between occupations, and considerable variation in mortality existed between manual occupations after controlling for these variables. More research is needed on other determinants of mortality in specific high-risk occupations.