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Trajectories of childhood socioeconomic status and markers of cardiovascular health in adolescence

University of British Columbia

Objective: The current study examined trajectories of socioeconomic status (SES) throughout childhood and their relationship to markers of cardiovascular health in adolescence. The goal was to determine whether early life SES, current SES, cumulative SES, and/or social mobility best explained the relationship between SES experiences across an adolescent’s lifespan and current blood pressure, heart rate (HR), and body mass index (BMI). Design: 102 medically healthy adolescents completed cardiovascular health assessments. Adolescents enrolled in the study with a parent. Parents reported on family SES, indicating the number of bedrooms in the family home for each year of the child’s life. Main Outcome Measures: Systolic blood pressure (SBP), Diastolic blood pressure (DBP), HR, and BMI. Results: Using Jones, Nagin, and Roeder’s (2001) semiparametric group-based method, four distinct trajectories of childhood SES were identified. Trajectory groups were differentially related to adolescents’ SBP and DBP. Early life SES explained trajectory group differences in adolescents’ SBP and DBP. Cumulative SES also contributed to differences in adolescents’ DBP. Trajectories of childhood SES were unrelated to HR and BMI. Trajectory findings were confirmed in follow-up analyses. Conclusions: Of the life-course models that we tested, an early life SES model best explained adolescents’ current blood pressure. These findings point toward early life developmental processes as potential candidates for explaining the relationship between SES and risk factors related to CVD. Interventions designed to reduce SES health disparities should take place early in a child’s life.

Text

2010-01-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/18063

Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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