عنوان

Socioeconomic position as a common cause for smoking, drinking, and psychiatric distress over the transition to adulthood

Number

TLets643088

Title Proper

Socioeconomic position as a common cause for smoking, drinking, and psychiatric distress over the transition to adulthood

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Green, Michael J.

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

University of Glasgow

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2014

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

University of Glasgow

Text preceding or following the note

2014

Text of Note

Psychiatric distress, smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are common health problems which often occur together and are patterned by socioeconomic position. Smoking and drinking behaviours and mental health problems tend to develop over the transition from adolescence to adulthood, so this thesis aimed to investigate the mechanisms by which socioeconomic factors influence their co-development during this stage of life as young people make transitions into adult social roles. Data were primarily taken from three UK cohort studies (two nationwide birth cohorts respectively born in 1958 and 1970, and a cohort of adolescents from Glasgow who were also born in the early 1970s), so it was possible to examine whether mechanisms were context-dependent. Additional data from the youth sub-sample of the British Household Panel Study allowed investigation of socioeconomic inequalities in early adolescent smoking development in more recent history (1994-2008). A combination of person and variable centred analysis techniques (latent class analysis, structural equation modelling, propensity weighting, and event history analysis) were employed to investigate the role of socioeconomic background and transitions to adulthood in development of smoking, drinking and psychiatric distress in adolescence and early adulthood. Inverse probability weighting and multiple imputation were employed to account for missing data. A strong association was identified between socioeconomic disadvantage and adolescent smoking, despite recent increases in tobacco control in the UK. Smoking appeared to be an important mechanism, or at least a marker for other mechanisms, linking socioeconomic disadvantage to heavier drinking, psychiatric distress, and early school-leaving. Aside from smoking, there were other mechanisms leading to heavy drinking and psychiatric distress. For psychiatric distress, these were still mainly associated with socioeconomic disadvantage, especially in early adulthood, whereas for drinking there were mechanisms associated with socioeconomic advantage. Participation in tertiary education appeared to be an important example of such a mechanism, linking socioeconomic advantage to heavier drinking in early adulthood. Remaining in education was strongly linked to delaying other adulthood transitions, but different patterns of early transitions exhibited different associations with smoking, drinking and distress in different contexts. Tackling inequalities in smoking may help reduce inequalities in drinking and distress in adolescence and early adulthood, and policies increasing access to tertiary education should consider the deleterious effects on drinking behaviours.

H Social Sciences (General)

HA Statistics

HM Sociology

Green, Michael J.

University of Glasgow

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y