The influence of sense of coherence on the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and adult oral health-related behaviours.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the role of adulthood socioeconomic status (SES) and sense of coherence (SOC) in the relationship between childhood SES and adult oral health-related behaviours.

METHODS

This study analysed responses of 5318 dentate subjects aged 30 years and over who participated in the Finnish Health 2000 Survey. Participants provided information on their demographic characteristics (sex, age, marital status and urbanization), childhood SES (parental education), adulthood SES (years of education and household income), the SOC scale and four oral health-related behaviours (dental attendance, toothbrushing frequency, sugar intake frequency and daily smoking). Structural equation modelling was used to test a model including adult SES and SOC as mediating factors of the relationship between childhood SES and adult oral health-related behaviours. Multi-group comparison was conducted to test the model within each sex and age group.

RESULTS

Childhood SES was related to adult oral health-related behaviours (P < 0.001) but only indirectly, via adulthood SES (P < 0.001) and adult SOC (P = 0.001). However, the relationship via adulthood SES was much stronger than that via SOC (standardized path coefficients were 0.24 and 0.01 respectively). In the multi-group comparison, the model was invariant across sex and age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The relationship between childhood SES and adult oral health-related behaviours was mainly mediated by adulthood SES, and to a much less extent by SOC. A stronger SOC was significantly associated with better adult oral health-related behaviours, after controlling for the effect of adulthood SES and demographic characteristics of the participants.