Health behavior-based selection into educational tracks starts in early adolescence

Abstract

Health behaviors and educational tracks of an individual are here presumed to have a strengthening influence on each other during the developmental process, through which individuals gradually reach their adult health and social position. This longitudinal study of a Finnish nationally representative sample of 12 year olds born in 1970 (N = 1009) examined the associations of health behaviors at ages 12 and 14 with educational track at age 16. The dependent variable, educational track, classified the respondents into five successive categories, thought to predict their adult social position. Selection into different educational tracks according to health behaviors was obvious already at age 12, when frequency of tooth brushing, consumption of sweets, coffee drinking and level of participation in physical exercise predicted educational track independently of sociodemographic background. At age 14, the independent predictors were smoking, frequency of tooth brushing and coffee drinking. At both ages, sociodemographic factors had independent associations with educational track. It seems that certain health-related behaviors in early adolescence are indicators of a person's possibilities to benefit from a country's educational supply. Both sociodemographic background and health-related behaviors influence the process of selection into educational tracks leading to social position and health in adulthood.

Risk factors for violence and violence-related injuries among 14- to 18-year-old Finns

“…According to earlier studies, the reliability of the background variables in our study (sociodemographic background, smoking, and weekly stress symptoms) was good [7].…”

Socioeconomic Differences in Smoking Among Finnish Adolescents From 1977 to 2007

“…In Finland, the choice of school career strongly predicts educational level and social position in adulthood [19,35,36]. This supports our idea of assigning adolescents their own individual social position.…”

“…Adolescents not performing well at school or discontinuing their studies after compulsory schooling had a higher prevalence of smoking than those in more auspicious educational careers. As an adolescent's lifestyle is a predictor of his or her educational career and future social class [19,34,35], these differences predict socioeconomic differences in smoking-related diseases as adolescents reach adulthood.…”

Pubertal timing and educational careers: a longitudinal study

“…This categorisation is built on a previous finding that students in upper secondary schools and those with previous good school records form a selected group of adolescents differing from adolescents in vocational schools and adolescents not continuing education after the compulsory phase. This selection is based not only on their sociodemographic backgrounds but also on their behavioural patterns independent of background (Koivusilta et al 2001). Educational track in adolescence is a strong predictor of educational level attained later in life (Koivusilta et al 2003).…”