SS 16.00-17.30 Special sessions

SOCIAL CLASS AND HEALTH BEHAVIOUR IN THE FINNISH YOUTH

The origin of social class differentials among middle-aged populations can be traced back to childhood and adolescence. In youth, social class has two dimensions. Social of origin is the description of the social status of the family where the child grew up. Achieved social class is the social position that young people themselves achieve through educational and occupational careers. The last one can be changing through the entire life, but the main track is possible to trace already in early adolescence through school and educational achievements. Adolescence is a critical period in the adoption of health-damaging addictive behaviours like smoking and drinking.

In the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey, we studied the relationship of the achieved social class with health-damaging behaviours at the age of 16 and 18. At this age the social position of the adulthood can to some extent be predicted by dividing the adolescents into categories according to their school achievements and type of school. Clear connections to risk-taking behaviours were observed. The lower the predicted social position in the adulthood, the higher the probability of health-damaging behaviours. The connection with smoking was the most prominent and even linear. Social class of orign was only weakly related to the addictive, health-damaging behaviours.

Social mobility, upwards or downwards, can be measured using the above mentioned two dimensions of social class. Upward social mobility was related to health-enchancing behaviours while downward mobility had a connection to health-damaging behaviours.

These results suggest that in order to diminish social class related health differentials, actions are needed already in childhood and adolescence.

Smoke Free Europe Conference Abstracts - 19 SEP 1996

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