Gautam Nirmal, Rahman Mohammad Mafizur, Khanam Rasheda
School of Business, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
The Centre for Health Research, University of Southern, Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Jan 24;25(1):314. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21472-6.
Understanding the association between socioeconomic inequalities and health behaviors is imperative for elucidating and effectively addressing health inequities among children and adolescents. Despite the wealth of literature on social gradients in health behaviors, longitudinal analyses of socioeconomic inequalities in the health behaviors of children and adolescents are relatively limited, particularly in the Australian literature. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between socioeconomic inequalities and health behaviors among Australian children and adolescents.
This study utilized the secondary data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (Waves 2-8), which included participants aged 2 to 15 years. Relative index inequality (RII) methods were used to investigate the associations between socioeconomic inequalities and the health behaviors of children and adolescents.
Compared with their counterparts, children and adolescents with high socioeconomic status (SES) are 84% more likely to consume fruits and vegetables (RII = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.63-2.09) and 19% less likely to consume sugary beverages (RII = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.77-0.86), but more likely to consume sweet and savory foods (RII = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.01-1.19). Children and adolescents with high SES were less likely to spend their free time on screens (RII = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.81-0.91) and more inclined toward outdoor activities (RII = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.53-1.98).
This study provides useful insight into socioeconomic inequalities and health behavior outcomes in children and adolescents. These findings stress the need for tailored interventions designed to improve the health behaviors of families from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Additionally, addressing unhealthy dietary behaviors, such as the higher consumption of sweet and savory foods among children from higher SES backgrounds, is equally critical. Such comprehensive interventions have the potential to reduce socioeconomic disparities in health behaviors and improve the well-being of the broader population.
了解社会经济不平等与健康行为之间的关联对于阐明并有效解决儿童和青少年中的健康不平等问题至关重要。尽管有大量关于健康行为社会梯度的文献，但对儿童和青少年健康行为中社会经济不平等的纵向分析相对有限，尤其是在澳大利亚的文献中。因此，本研究旨在调查澳大利亚儿童和青少年中社会经济不平等与健康行为之间的关联。
本研究利用了澳大利亚儿童纵向研究（第2 - 8波）的二手数据，该研究包括2至15岁的参与者。采用相对指数不平等（RII）方法来研究社会经济不平等与儿童和青少年健康行为之间的关联。
与同龄人相比，社会经济地位高（SES）的儿童和青少年食用水果和蔬菜的可能性高84%（RII = 1.84，95% CI = 1.63 - 2.09），饮用含糖饮料的可能性低19%（RII = 0.81，95% CI = 0.77 - 0.86），但食用甜咸食品的可能性更高（RII = 1.09，95% CI = 1.01 - 1.19）。社会经济地位高的儿童和青少年在屏幕前度过空闲时间的可能性较小（RII = 0.86，95% CI = 0.81 - 0.91），更倾向于户外活动（RII = 1.75，95% CI = 1.53 - 1.98）。
本研究为儿童和青少年的社会经济不平等与健康行为结果提供了有用的见解。这些发现强调需要制定针对性的干预措施，以改善社会经济背景较低家庭的健康行为。此外，解决不健康的饮食行为，如社会经济地位较高背景的儿童中甜咸食品消费较高的问题，同样至关重要。这种全面的干预措施有可能减少健康行为方面的社会经济差距，并改善更广泛人群的福祉。
