Is adolescent multiple risk behaviour associated with reduced socioeconomic status in young adulthood and do those with low socioeconomic backgrounds experience greater negative impact? Findings from two UK birth cohort studies

Laura E Tinner*, Caroline L Wright, Deborah M Caldwell, Jon E Heron, Rona M Campbell, Matt Hickman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Background
Adolescent multiple risk behaviour (MRB) is associated with negative outcomes such as police arrests, unemployment and premature mortality and morbidity. What is unknown is whether MRB is associated with socioeconomic status (SES) in adulthood. We test whether adolescent MRB is associated with socioeconomic status (SES) in young adulthood and whether it is moderated by early life SES variables.

Methods
Prospective cohort studies; British Cohort Study 1970 (BCS70) and Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), born in 1991–1992, were used and two comparable MRB variables were derived. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between MRB and young adult SES. The moderating effect of three early life SES variables was assessed using logistic regression models with and without interaction parameters. Evidence to support the presence of moderation was determined by likelihood ratio tests ≤p = 0.05. Multiple imputation was used to account for missing data.

Results
Adolescents had a median of two risk behaviours in BCS70 and three in ALSPAC. Adolescent MRB was negatively associated with young adult SES (university degree attainment) in BCS70 (OR 0.81, 95% CI: 0.76, 0.86) and ALSPAC (OR 0.85, 95% CI: 0.82, 0.88). There was a dose response relationship, with each additional risk behaviour resulting in reduced odds of university degree attainment. MRB was associated occupational status at age 34 in BCS70 (OR 0.86 95% CI: 0.82, 0.90). In BCS70, there was evidence that maternal education (p = 0.03), parental occupational status (p = 0.009) and household income (p = 0.03) moderated the effect of adolescent MRB on young adult SES in that the negative effect of MRB is stronger for those with low socioeconomic backgrounds. No evidence of moderation was found in the ALSPAC cohort.

Conclusions
Adolescence appears to be a critical time in the life course to address risk behaviours, due to the likelihood that behaviours established here may have effects in adulthood. Intervening on adolescent MRB could improve later SES outcomes and thus affect health outcomes later in life. Evidence for a moderation effect in the BCS70 but not ALSPAC suggests that more detailed measures should be investigated to capture the nuance of contemporary young adult SES.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1614
Number of pages13
JournalBMC Public Health
Volume21
Issue number1
Early online date3 Sept 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
LT is a PhD student funded by the Medical Research Council within the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Public Health Interventions (DECIPHer). CW is funded by a Cancer Research UK Population Research Postdoctoral Fellowship (C60153/A23895). The work was undertaken with the support of The Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Joint funding (MR/KO232331/1) from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the Welsh Government and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. The funding sources had no involvement with the study design, collection, analysis, writing the report or the decision to submit for publication. The UK Medical Research Council and Wellcome (Grant ref.: 102215/2/13/2) and the University of Bristol provide core support for ALSPAC. This publication is the work of the authors and we will serve as guarantors for the contents of this paper.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • adolescence
  • socioeconomic factors
  • cohort studies
  • inequalities
  • multiple risk behaviour

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