Department of Social Sciences, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany.
Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Chair of Epidemiology and Public Health, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, Germany.
Front Public Health. 2023 Feb 10;11:1075142. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1075142. eCollection 2023.
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 characterized 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 analyzed health inequalities among 9,000 students in Germany (∅ 20 years in the first year of their studies) over a period of 8 years.
We found that most university students (92%) in Germany reported a good and very good health. Yet, we still found substantial health inequalities. Students whose parents had a higher occupational status reported less health problems. Additionally, we observed that health inequalities had indirect impact on health via health behavior, psychosocial resources, and material conditions.
We believe our study is an important contribution to the understudied subject of students' health. We see the impact of social inequality on health among such a privileged group like university students as an important sign of the importance of health inequality.
健康不平等在生命早期就出现了。青年期，即十几岁后期到二十岁早期，尤其如此。这个从儿童到成年的过渡时期，以与父母的分离和建立独立生活为特征。从健康不平等的角度来看，父母的社会经济背景的重要性的问题很重要。大学生是一个特别有趣的群体。许多学生来自特权背景，大学生中的健康不平等问题尚未得到适当研究。
基于全国教育面板研究（NEPS），我们分析了德国 9000 名学生（在研究的第一年∅20 岁）在 8 年期间的健康不平等。
我们发现，德国大多数大学生（92%）报告了良好和非常好的健康状况。然而，我们仍然发现了大量的健康不平等。父母职业地位较高的学生报告的健康问题较少。此外，我们观察到健康不平等通过健康行为、心理社会资源和物质条件对健康产生间接影响。
我们认为我们的研究是对学生健康这一研究不足的主题的重要贡献。我们认为，在如此特权的群体（如大学生）中，社会不平等对健康的影响是健康不平等重要性的一个重要标志。
