Auburn study shows childhood financial conditions are becoming a stronger predictor of adult health
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The latest research by Thomas Fuller-Rowell, an associate professor in the College of Human Sciences and director of Auburn’s health disparities research initiative, shows that the socioeconomic conditions that a child grows up in are becoming more consequential for adult health.
The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, was based on nationally-representative data collected in the 1990’s and the 2010’s. The researchers assessed childhood socioeconomic conditions using measures of parent occupational prestige, childhood poverty exposure and parent education; and examined how strongly they predict five established indicators of adult health: body mass index, waist circumference, number of chronic conditions, functional limitations and self-rated health.
