@misc{DeindlDiehlSpalleketal., author = {Deindl, Christian and Diehl, Katharina and Spallek, Jacob and Richter, Matthias and Sch{\"u}ttig, Wiebke and Rattay, Petra and Dragano, Nico and Pischke, Claudia R.}, title = {Self-rated health of university students in Germany-The importance of material, psychosocial, and behavioral factors and the parental socio-economic status}, series = {Frontiers in Public Health}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Public Health}, issn = {2296-2565}, doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2023.1075142}, abstract = {Health inequalities start early in life. The time of young adulthood, between late teens and early twenties, is especially interesting in this regard. This time of emerging adulthood, the transition from being a child to becoming an adult, is characterised by the detachment from parents and establishing of an own independent life. From a health inequality perspective, the question about the importance of the socio-economic background of parents is important. University students are an especially interesting group. Many students come from a privileged background and the question of health inequality among university students has not yet been properly studied. Based on the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we analysed health inequalities among 9,000 students in Germany ({\O} 20 years in the first year of their studies) over a period of eight years. We found that university students in Germany report a good and very good health. Yet, we still found substantial health inequalities. Students whose parents had a higher occupational status also reported less health problems. We were also able to tie health inequality on health behaviour, psychosocial resources, and material conditions.}, language = {en} } @misc{ReuterDiehlRichteretal., author = {Reuter, Marvin and Diehl, Katharina and Richter, Matthias and Sundmacher, Leonie and H{\"o}vener, Claudia and Spallek, Jacob and Dragano, Nico}, title = {A longitudinal analysis of health inequalities from adolescence to young adulthood and their underlying causes}, series = {Advances in Lifecourse Research}, volume = {Vol. 59}, journal = {Advances in Lifecourse Research}, issn = {1879-6974}, doi = {10.1016/j.alcr.2024.100593}, abstract = {Research suggests that children of low-educated parents face greater health burdens during the passage from adolescence to young adulthood, as they are more likely to become low-educated themselves, establish behavioural and psychosocial disadvantages, or being exposed to unhealthy working conditions. However, studies examining the development and drivers of health inequalities during this particular life stage are limited in number and have produced varied results. This study investigates trajectories of self-rated health and overweight from 14 to 25 years of age, stratified by parental education, and explores the role of potential mediators (educational achievement, health behaviours, psychosocial factors, working conditions). We rely on prospective cohort data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), a representative sample of 14,981 German ninth graders interviewed yearly from 2011 to 2021 (n = 90,096 person-years). First, we estimated random-effects growth curves for self-rated health and overweight over participants' age and calculated the average marginal effect of high versus low parental education. Second, a series of simulation-based mediation analyses were performed to test how much of health inequalities were explained by children's educational attainment (years of school education, years in university), health behaviours (smoking, alcohol, physical inactivity), psychosocial factors (number of grade repetitions, years in unemployment, chronic stress, self-esteem) and working conditions (physical and psychosocial job demands). We accounted for potential confounding by controlling for age, sex, migration background, residential area, household composition, and interview mode. Results show that higher parental education was related to higher self-rated health and lower probabilities of being overweight. Interaction between parental education and age indicated that, after some equalisation in late adolescence, health inequalities increased in young adulthood. Furthermore, educational attainment, health behaviours, psychosocial factors, and early-career working conditions played a significant role in mediating health inequalities. Of the variables examined, the level of school education and years spent in university were particular strong mediating factors. School education accounted for around one-third of the inequalities in self-rated health and one-fifth of the differences in overweight among individuals. Results support the idea that the transition to adulthood is a sensitive period in life and that early socio-economic adversity increases the likelihood to accumulate health disadvantages in multiple dimensions. In Germany, a country with comparatively low educational mobility, intergenerational continuities in class location seem to play a key role in the explanation of health inequalities in youth.}, language = {en} } @misc{BammertSchuettigNovellietal., author = {Bammert, Philip and Sch{\"u}ttig, Wiebke and Novelli, Anna and Iashchenko, Iryna and Spallek, Jacob and Blume, Miriam and Diehl, Katharina and Moor, Irene and Dragano, Nico and Sundmacher, Leonie}, title = {The role of mesolevel characteristics of the health care system and socioeconomic factors on health care use - results of a scoping review}, series = {International Journal for Equity in Health}, volume = {23}, journal = {International Journal for Equity in Health}, number = {1}, issn = {1475-9276}, doi = {10.1186/s12939-024-02122-6}, abstract = {Background: Besides macrolevel characteristics of a health care system, mesolevel access characteristics can exert influence on socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare use. These reflect access to healthcare, which is shaped on a smaller scale than the national level, by the institutions and establishments of a health system that individuals interact with on a regular basis. This scoping review maps the existing evidence about the influence of mesolevel access characteristics and socioeconomic position on healthcare use. Furthermore, it summarizes the evidence on the interaction between mesolevel access characteristics and socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare use. Methods: We used the databases MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycINFO and followed the 'Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR)' recommendations. The included quantitative studies used a measure of socioeconomic position, a mesolevel access characteristic, and a measure of individual healthcare utilisation. Studies published between 2000 and 2020 in high income countries were considered. Results: Of the 9501 potentially eligible manuscripts, 158 studies were included after a two-stage screening process. The included studies contained a wide spectrum of outcomes and were thus summarised to the overarching categories: use of preventive services, use of curative services, and potentially avoidable service use. Exemplary outcomes were screening uptake, physician visits and avoidable hospitalisations. Access variables included healthcare system characteristics such as physician density or distance to physician. The effects of socioeconomic position on healthcare use as well as of mesolevel access characteristics were investigated by most studies. The results show that socioeconomic and access factors play a crucial role in healthcare use. However, the interaction between socioeconomic position and mesolevel access characteristics is addressed in only few studies. Conclusions: Socioeconomic position and mesolevel access characteristics are important when examining variation in healthcare use. Additionally, studies provide initial evidence that moderation effects exist between the two factors, although research on this topic is sparse. Further research is needed to investigate whether adapting access characteristics at the mesolevel can reduce socioeconomic inequity in health care use.}, language = {en} } @misc{MayerHerrKleinetal., author = {Mayer, Alena and Herr, Raphael and Klein, Thomas and Wiedemann, Eva and Diehl, Katharina and Hoffmann, Stephanie and Blume, Miriam and Jepsen, Dennis and Sundmacher, Leonie and Andreas, Marike and Schneider, Sven}, title = {Socio-economic inequalities in body mass index among preschool children: do sports programs in early childhood education and care centers make a difference?}, series = {Frontiers in Public Health}, volume = {Vol. 11}, journal = {Frontiers in Public Health}, issn = {2296-2565}, doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2023.1079871}, abstract = {Background: Overweight in childhood is considered to be one of the most serious public health challenges. Many studies have investigated individual-level determinants of children's body mass index (BMI), yet studies exploring determinants at the meso-level are sparse. The aim of our study was to examine how a sports focus at early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers moderates the effect of parental socio-economic position (SEP) on children's BMI. Methods: We used data from the German National Educational Panel Study and included 1,891 children (955 boys and 936 girls) from 224 ECEC centers in our analysis. Linear multilevel regressions were used to estimate the main effects of family SEP and the ECEC center sports focus, as well as their interaction, on children's BMI. All analyses were stratified by sex and adjusted for age, migration background, number of siblings, and employment status of parents. Results: Our analysis confirmed the wellknown health inequalities in childhood overweight with a social gradient toward a higher BMI for children from lower SEP families. An interactive effect between family SEP and ECEC center sports focus was found. Boys with low family SEP not attending a sports-focused ECEC center had the highest BMI among all boys. In contrast, boys with low family SEP attending a sports-focused ECEC center had the lowest BMI. For girls, no association regarding ECEC center focus or interactive effects emerged. Girls with a high SEP had the lowest BMI, independent of the ECEC center focus. Conclusion: We provided evidence for the gender-specific relevance of sports-focused ECEC centers for the prevention of overweight. Especially boys from low SEP families benefited from a sports focus, whereas for girls the family's SEP was more relevant. As a consequence, gender differences in determinants for BMI at different levels and their interaction should be considered in further research and preventive measures. Our research indicates that ECEC centers may decrease health inequalities by providing opportunities for physical activity.}, language = {en} } @misc{ReuterPischkeRigoetal., author = {Reuter, Marvin and Pischke, Claudia R. and Rigo, Mariann and Diehl, Katharina and Spallek, Jacob and Richter, Matthias and H{\"o}vener, Claudia and Dragano, Nico}, title = {Health inequalities among young workers: the mediating role of working conditions and company characteristics}, series = {International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health}, volume = {96}, journal = {International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health}, number = {10}, issn = {1432-1246}, doi = {10.1007/s00420-023-02010-6}, pages = {1313 -- 1324}, abstract = {Objective Few studies have investigated health inequalities among young workers. The objectives of this study are to assess the extent of health inequalities in a sample of job starters and to explore the contribution of job demands and organisational factors. Methods We analyze data from the BIBB/BAuA Youth Employment Survey 2012. The cross-sectional survey includes a representative sample of 3214 German employees, apprentices, and trainees aged 15-24 years. Individuals were grouped by their years of schooling into low (< 12 years) and high levels of education (≥ 12 years). Regression analysis estimated the link between education and four health outcomes: self-rated health, number of health events, musculoskeletal symptoms, and mental health problems over the last 12 months. Counterfactual mediation analysis tested for indirect effects of education via working conditions (i.e., physical and psychosocial job demands) and company characteristics (i.e., company size, health prevention measures, financial situation, downsizing). All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, nationality, region, working hours, job tenure, employment relationship, and economic sector. Results Highly educated workers reported better self-rated health (b = 0.24, 95\% CI 0.18-0.31) and lower numbers of health events (Rate Ratio (RR) = 0.74, 95\% CI 0.67-0.82), musculoskeletal symptoms (RR = 0.73, 95\% CI 0.66-0.80) and mental health problems (RR = 0.84, 95\% CI 0.76-0.93). Total job demands explained between 21.6\% and 87.2\% of the educational differences (depending on health outcome). Unfavourable company characteristics were associated with worse health, but showed no or only small mediation effects. Conclusions Health inequalities are already present at the early working career due to socio-economically stratified working hazards. To enhance prevention measures that aim at reducing inequalities in workplace health, we propose shifting attention towards earlier stages of life.}, language = {en} }