Abstract
Socioeconomic status (SES) is among the strongest determinants of body mass index (BMI). For older populations, selection bias is a large barrier to assessing cumulative disadvantages. We investigated the extent to which childhood SES affects BMI from midlife to old age and gender differences in the association. Data come from Midlife in the U.S. We used latent growth models to estimate BMI trajectory over a period of 20 years and examined results under different missing data patterns. Compared to individuals from higher childhood SES, those from lower childhood SES have higher BMI in midlife and experience a faster increase in BMI between midlife and old age. The observed associations remain significant even after controlling for midlife SES. After addressing nonrandom selection, the gap in BMI between high and low childhood SES widens from midlife to old age for women. The findings provide new evidence of cumulative inequality among older adults.
Highlights
Socioeconomic disadvantage in early life predicts life-course trajectories of body weight
Studies on Socioeconomic status (SES) have found strong u negative effects, for women, of early-life SES on adult body mass index (BMI); adult SES is n among the most widely studied life-course factors leading to adult BMI, researchers have shown a that the effects of such early-life disadvantage are independent of the effects of adult SES M (Senese, Almeida, Fath, Smith, & Loucks, 2009)
D Despite extensive life-course studies on BMI, important questions remain: do BMI te inequalities established in early life widen or diminish in later life? Do the adverse impacts of p early disadvantage on body weight continue to be more pronounced for women than men? And e what is the role of midlife SES in the associations? Using three waves (1995/96–2013/14) from c the Midlife in the U.S Study (MIDUS), the aim of the current study is to investigate these Ac questions
Summary
Socioeconomic disadvantage in early life predicts life-course trajectories of body weight. Risks/resources encountered during other periods will have p relatively little, if any, impact on health According to this model, socioeconomic disadvantage e in early life has a strong effect on adult BMI even after accounting for socioeconomic position cc during other phases of the life course. T Gender differences ip Findings from both clinical and population-based studies have indicated that the effects of cr childhood SES are more consistent among women than men throughout adulthood (Giskes et al, s 2008; Gustafsson et al, 2012; Pudrovska, Logan, et al, 2014; Walsemann, Ailshire, Bell, & u Frongillo, 2012). The mediating role of midlife SES in the association between childhood SES and later-life BMI are stronger for women than men (H5)
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