Intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic health inequalities: a life course review
Summary
This scientific review examines how socioeconomic health inequalities are transmitted across generations. The authors find that parental socioeconomic position and health strongly influence offspring's adult health and socioeconomic status, particularly during the first two decades of life (from conception to early adulthood). Key mechanisms include inequalities in the fetal environment affecting birth outcomes, and inequalities in the postnatal environment (psychosocial, learning, physical exposures, and socialization) affecting child development and health behaviors. Structural factors shape these mechanisms in time-specific and place-specific ways, creating distinct birth-cohort patterns. The review concludes that effective health inequality reduction requires addressing intergenerational transmission of disadvantage by creating societal conditions that allow all children to reach their full potential.
Source
bskyIntergenerational transmission of socioeconomic health inequalities: a life course reviewjech.bmj.comKey quotes
· 5 pulledAdult health inequalities are a persistent public health problem.
Transmission of socioeconomic and associated health (dis)advantages from parents to offspring, and its underlying structural determinants, contributes substantially to socioeconomic inequalities in adult health.
Socioeconomic inequalities in the fetal environment contribute to inequalities in fetal development and birth outcomes, with lifelong socioeconomic and health consequences.
Adult health inequalities are for an important part intergenerationally transmitted.
Effective health inequality reduction requires addressing intergenerational transmission of (dis)advantage by creating societal circumstances that allow all children to develop to their full potential.
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