Suchergebnisse

This report presents the results of an innovative and national study on Lifecourse, Generation and Gender (LOGG), including the responses of 10 570 Norwegians between 18 and 79. The aim of the study was to gather information about central transitions in the life-course. The present report is one of two reports from the LOGG Health and Care project, which is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Long-term Care. This report describes social variation in health and health-related behaviour. A life-course perspective is used throughout the report and underlines the importance of time in relation to health and health-related behaviour, whether this concerns ageing, life phase or cohort. Results of the report provide pointers for further analyses within the study, including longitudinal analyses. Chapter 1 presents the background for the project and the research questions. Chapter 2 explores age-related patterns of social variation in health and whether such patterns differ across health domains. Chapter 3 presents social variation in health-related behaviour and explores the interrelation between different types of health problems and health-related behaviours. Finally, Chapter 4 provides a description of social conditions during childhood and their impact on health and health-related behaviour in adult life. Social variation in health (Chapter 2)The results of Chapter 2 indicate that social inequality in health, as measured by educational attainment, can be quite large and is related to both life phase and gender. The strength of these relationships depends upon which health domain is considered: general health, mental health, or functional limitations. Social inequalities in general health and functional limitations are largest in mid-life, which is in line with the accumulation of disadvantages hypothesis. Social inequality in mental health is largest among younger age groups, and especially in women. Thirty-seven percent of young women with basic education and 16 % of young women with highest levels of education report depressive symptoms. An important question is whether these large social inequalities are characteristic for the life stage of young women and disappear with ageing of this cohort, or whether high rates of depressive symptoms persist or even exacerbate in later years. Scores for measures of general health tend to stabilize among the oldest respondents (70-79 years). Selective attrition is one likely explanation, but changed expectations regarding health may also contribute to more positive responses to such general measures. The sharp increase in functional limitations among the oldest with high education may be interpreted as postponed morbidity. One in three people aged 18-66 years has a longstanding illness, and half of these have a limiting longstanding illness. Within this group we find smaller social inequalities in the different health domains compared to the sample as a whole. Nevertheless, high education also seems to protect those who relatively early in life are confronted with a limiting longstanding illness. Social variation in health-related behaviour (Chapter 3)The results of Chapter 3 underline that health-related behaviour is strongly related to age and life phase. Increasing age is associated with increasing use of medications. However, the gender gap in use of for example painkillers and sleeping medications increases with age, and so does social inequality. Between age 50 and 66, 31 % of women with lowest educational attainment and 12 % of women with highest educational attainment have used painkillers during the last month. These patterns partly reflect social differences in health and functioning. In addition they may reflect differences in lifestyles between more and less educated people in this particular stage of life. After age 50, there is a noteworthy risein social inequality in regular alcohol consumption and in yearly visits to the dentist. Regular alcohol consumption particularly increases among seniors with high levels of education. Yearly visits to the dentist are declining particularly in elderly men with lower levels of education. Large social inequality in daily smoking is found in young and middle-aged adults (age 30 to 49). Differences between those with highest and lowest educational levels are up to 30 percentage points. Health promotion and disease prevention initiatives have especially targeted smoking and physical activity. Results from the present report suggest that these initiatives may need to be adapted to young and middle-aged adults with lower educational levels. Health is a major precondition for physically activity, in particular below 67 years. This is also the case for daily smoking, obesity and use of health care services. The direction of causality can go both ways. Consequences of unfavourable health-related behaviour typically accumulate over time and may first be observed in later life. As we live longer, it is important that health promotion and disease prevention initiatives continue to have focus on health-related behaviour early in life. Social conditions during childhood and their implications for health and health-related behaviour (Chapter 4)Chapter 4 describes the impact of childhood social conditions (parental divorce, father's education and school problems) on health and health-related behaviour in adult life (physical limitations, mental health, daily smoking and obesity). Parental divorce during childhood has a clear negative impact on mental health and daily smoking in adult years, even after controlling for the effect of own education. However, high educational attainment of the father may function as a buffer against the negative effects of parental divorce in childhood. Father's higher educational attainment is also associated with fewer physical limitations and less daily smoking. However, this is an indirect effect, mediated by own educational attainment. Among women, higher educational attainment of the father is associated with lower levels of obesity. Between 30 and 39 years of age, 23 % of the women with less educated fathers were considered obese compared to 9 % among women with higher educated fathers. This direct effect was somewhat reduced, but persisted, even after taking own educational attainment into account. Seen from a life-course perspective, these results may imply that the risk for obesity accumulates particularly in women with less educated fathers. School problems pose a risk factor for physical limitations, mental health and daily smoking in adult life. In general, the impact of social conditions during childhood is less strong among the oldest respondents (60-79 years). The general and retrospective nature of the item measuring problems at school is particularly vulnerable to measurement bias, which may differ across cohorts. Nevertheless, findings indicate more school problems during childhood in younger than older cohorts. This, together with their impact on health and health-related behaviour in adult life, may imply that school problems are an increasing public health problem. ; Rapporten tar for seg sosial variasjon i helse og helseatferd i ulike aldersgrupper. Utgangspunktet er en ny og landsdekkende undersøkelse om livsløp, generasjon og kjønn (LOGG/NorLAG). Analysene av variasjoner i helse og helseatferd, og av de mekanismer som former dem, gir viktige innspill til politikkområder som aktiv aldring, nedbygging av funksjonshemmende barrierer, framtidige omsorgsutfordringer og utjevning av sosiale helseforskjeller. Rapporten gir en første beskrivende analyse av helse og helseatferd for ulike sosiale grupper og alderstrinn, og resultatene brukes som en pekepinn for videre arbeid med materialet, blant annet longitudinelle analyser. Undersøkelsen viser at det er til dels store forskjeller i helse som er knyttet til livsfase og kjønn. Også helseatferd endres gjennom livet, og endringene kan variere med kjønn og livsfase. I rapporten diskuteres det videre hvordan sosiale forhold i barndommen henger sammen med helse og helseatferd i voksen alder. Resultatene tyder på at grunnlaget for sosial skjevhet delvis blir dannet i barndommen, og at de forsterkes gjennom livsløpet.