Socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent health behaviours across 32 different countries – The role of country-level social mobility

Higher family affluence is associated with healthier behaviours in adolescents, but the strength of this association varies across countries. Differences in social mobility at the country-level, i.e. the extent to which adolescents develop a different socioeconomic status (SES) than their parents, m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Social science & medicine (1982) Vol. 310; p. 115289
Main Authors:	Schmengler, Heiko, Peeters, Margot, Stevens, Gonneke W.J.M., Kunst, Anton E., Delaruelle, Katrijn, Dierckens, Maxim, Charrier, Lorena, Weinberg, Dom, Oldehinkel, Albertine J., Vollebergh, Wilma A.M.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2022
Subjects:	Adolescents HBSC Health behaviours Social mobility Socioeconomic inequality Health behaviours HBSC Socioeconomic inequality Adolescents Social mobility
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Higher family affluence is associated with healthier behaviours in adolescents, but the strength of this association varies across countries. Differences in social mobility at the country-level, i.e. the extent to which adolescents develop a different socioeconomic status (SES) than their parents, may partially explain why the association between family affluence and adolescent health behaviours is stronger in some countries than in others. Using data from adolescents aged 11–15 years from 32 countries, participating in the 2017/2018 wave of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study (N = 185,086), we employed multilevel regression models with cross-level interactions to examine whether country-level social mobility moderates the association between family affluence and adolescent health behaviours (i.e. moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, vigorous physical activity, healthy and unhealthy foods consumption, having breakfast regularly, and weekly smoking). Higher family affluence was more strongly associated with higher levels of adolescent physical activity in countries characterized by high levels of social mobility. No cross-level interactions were found for any of the other health behaviours. Differences in social mobility at the country-level may contribute to cross-national variations in socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent physical activity. Further research can shed light on the mechanisms linking country-level social mobility to inequalities in adolescent physical activity to identify targets for policy and interventions. •Higher family affluence is associated with better health behaviours in adolescents.•We studied if this association differs depending on country-level social mobility.•Inequalities in physical activity were larger in more socially mobile countries.•No differences were found regarding any of the other health behaviours studied.•These included healthy/unhealthy foods consumed, having breakfast regularly, and smoking.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0277-9536 1873-5347
DOI:	10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115289