Intragenerational social mobility and self-rated oral health in the british cohort study

Abstract

Background Most studies on social mobility and oral health have focused on movement between generations (intergenerational mobility) rather than movement within an individual’s own lifetime (intragenerational mobility). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between intragenerational social mobility from early to middle adulthood and self-rated oral health. Methods This study used data from 6524 participants of the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study, an ongoing population-based birth cohort of individuals born in England, Scotland and Wales. Participants’ socioeconomic position was indicated by occupational social class at age 26 and 46 years (the first and latest adult waves, respectively). Self-rated oral health was measured at age 46 years. The association between social mobility and adult oral health was assessed using conventional regression models and diagonal reference models, adjusting for gender, ethnicity, country of residence and residence area. Results Over a fifth of participants (22.2%) reported poor self-rated oral health at age 46 years. In conventional regression analysis, the odds ratios for social mobility varied depending on whether they were adjusted for social class of origin or destination. In addition, all social trajectories had greater odds of reporting poor oral health than non-mobile adults in class I/II. In diagonal reference models, both upward (Odds Ratio 0.79; 95% CI 0.63–0.99) and downward mobility (0.90; 95% CI 0.71–1.13) were inversely associated with poor self-rated oral health. The origin weight was 0.48 (95% CI 0.33–0.63), suggesting that social class of origin was as important as social class of destination. Conclusion This longitudinal analysis showed that intragenerational social mobility from young to middle adulthood was associated with self-rated oral health, independent of previous and current social class.

Intra-generational social mobility and mortality among older men in the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project: A cohort study

“…We found no evidence to support the dissociative theory. This is in accordance with previous studies from different countries with a range of outcomes that have not found strong directionless social mobility effects ( Jonsson et al, 2017 ; McLoughlin et al, 2023 ; Mohd Khairuddin, Bernabé, & Delgado-Angulo, 2021 ). We note that in proposing this hypothesis, Sorokin particularly emphasised the negative consequences of upward trajectories for mental health outcomes ( Sorokin, 1927 ).…”

Oral Health Knowledge, Self-Assessed Oral Health Behavior, and Oral Hygiene Practices among the Adult General Population in Croatia

“…The majority of respondents in this study (69.4%) reported perceiving their oral health as “very good”. A slightly higher proportion of individuals self-reporting “very good” oral health has been found in a self-reported oral health study from Germany [ 15 ] and in a British cohort study [ 18 ]. However, an even larger percentage (78.3%) in this study indicated that they considered their general health as “very good”.…”

“…As some authors have pointed out, a significant proportion of the adult population tends to seek dental care only in emergencies or when in pain, and considers routine dental visits either “unimportant” or “financially prohibitive” [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Studies have shown a clear association between advanced age, lower socioeconomic status, or educational level and self-rated poor oral health [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ].…”

Is social origin, destination or mobility what matters to adult self‐rated oral health?

“…On the other hand, most studies have used traditional regression methods that cannot disentangle the mobility effects per se from those of early‐ and later‐life socioeconomic position (SEP). Our group has recently addressed these challenges in relation to intragenerational mobility effects on oral health 4 …”

“…Our group has recently addressed these challenges in relation to intragenerational mobility effects on oral health. 4 Social mobility constitutes a central topic in sociology, with several theories proposed to understand its health effects. The classic dissociative thesis postulates that social mobility is a stressful experience for both upwardly and downwardly mobile individuals.…”