SOCIOECONOMIC DIFFERENCES IN HEALTH RISK BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENCE - DOTHEY EXIST

Socio-economic differences in risk behaviors in adolescence can be see n as a prelude to the re-emergence of socio-economic health difference s in adulthood. We studied whether or not socio-economic differences i n health risk behaviors are present in male and female adolescents in The Netherlands. The relation between socio-economic status (SES) and health risk behaviors was examined, by testing both the main and inter action effects of SES and gender on separate health risk behaviors on one hand, and on the behaviors cumulatively on the other. The data wer e derived from 1984 adolescents in the four northern provinces of The Netherlands. SES was measured by means of the educational level and th e occupational status of both parents. Four health risk behaviors were included in this study: smoking, alcohol consumption, soft drug use, and (no) physical exercise. We found that the relationships between SE S and health risk behaviors are not as linear as is often found in adu lthood. Our findings can be characterised overall by an absence of rel ationship between SES and health risk behaviors. The only exception ap plies to sport, which is linearly related to SES. Adolescents in the l ower SES groups engage in sport less than adolescents in the higher SE S groups. There was an irregular relationship between the father's occ upational status and the adolescents' smoking and drinking. Adolescent s in the highest, lowest and middle of the six SES groups have the hig hest rates of health risk behaviors. All observed relationships are si milar for both male and female adolescents. A relationship between gen der and the separate health risk behaviors was found only for alcohol consumption and drug use. For both male adolescents showed higher rate s of risk behavior. Males also scored higher on the cumulative health risk behaviors than their female counterparts. The findings of this st udy do not support the hypothesis of latent differences in adolescence . (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.