[Social inequality and health in adolescents].
BACKGROUND
Previous studies indicate that social disparities in health exist in the Danish population. We examined the relationship between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and a number of indicators of physical and mental health amongst 14-15 year old adolescents from the former Ringkoebing County, now a part of the Central Jutland Region, Denmark. SES was measured in terms of education and income, which, in part, correspond with the concepts of cultural and economic capital.


METHODS
Information concerning parents' level of education and income was obtained from central registers via Statistics Denmark. Health-related data for a total of 3,058 adolescents, corresponding to a response rate of 83%, was gathered via questionnaires. Prevalence proportion ratios (PPR) were calculated and are used in the article as risk estimates.


RESULTS
Adolescents with less educated parents had a significantly greater risk of poor self-rated health, high self-perceived stress and being overweight, compared with those with better educated parents. The most substantial difference was seen for self-rated health with a PPR of 3.44. Adolescents with low-income parents had poorer health when compared with higher-income groups on eight out of 11 health indicators. Most noticeable were differences for self-rated health and self-perceived stress with PPRs of 1.86 and 1.54, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The study shows that social disparities in health exist among adolescents from the western part of central Jutland corresponding to the former Ringkoebing County. Both low parental education and income had a negative effect on adolescent health. The study also indicates that education and income affect health in different ways. For this reason it is desirable to use both indicators as measures of SES when studying social disparities in health.
Christiansen
Mikael
M
Arbejdsmedicinsk Klinik, Regionshospitalet Herning, DK-7400 Herning, Denmark.
Hansen
Claus D
CD
Glasscock
David
D
Andersen
Johan Hviid
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D012042:Registries; D012649:Self Concept; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires