Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
The transmission of social inequalities through economic difficulties and lifestyle factors on body mass index: an intersectional mediation analysis in the Swedish population
Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain; Research Group Social Determinants of Health and Demographic Change-OPIK, Leioa, Spain.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-0168-4806
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7234-3510
Umeå University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3972-5362
2024 (English)In: Social Science and Medicine, ISSN 0277-9536, E-ISSN 1873-5347, Vol. 360, article id 117314Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Body mass index (BMI) has increased in Sweden, disproportionally for socially disadvantaged groups, including women, low-educated, and immigrants, who may also face economic constraints, physical inactivity, and poor-quality diets. Intersectional public health research aims to unravel such complex social inequalities, but the intersectional transmission of inequalities to BMI remains unexplored. We aimed to examine intersectional inequalities in BMI mediated by economic strain and health-related lifestyle in the Swedish population. By using the Health on Equal Terms cross-sectional surveys in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2021 (n = 44,177 inhabitants aged 25 and over), we performed an intersectional mediation analysis to analyze how inequalities across social intersectional strata (by gender, education, and migration status) may be transmitted through economic strain and unhealthy lifestyle (physical inactivity or inadequate fruit/vegetables consumption) to BMI. Our findings showed a sequential transmission that indicates the fact that socially disadvantaged strata (compared with high-educated native men) experienced more economic strain, which in turn led to poorer health-related lifestyles and ultimately to a higher BMI. We also found that certain intersectional strata, such as high-educated women, were more vulnerable to economic strain, despite having lower BMI than high-educated native men. Additionally, the highest BMI and unhealthy lifestyle risk was observed among low- and middle-educated men. In conclusion, not only inequalities in BMI, but also the economic and behavioral pathways underpinning the inequalities, act by intersectional patterns. Public health interventions should provide economic security, particularly for women and migrant population as well as promoting a healthy lifestyle in lower-educated strata, especially among men, to achieve healthy BMI levels.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2024. Vol. 360, article id 117314
Keywords [en]
Intersectional inequality, Education, Migration, Incomes, Lifestyle, Body mass index, Sweden
National Category
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-229870DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117314Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85203837010OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-229870DiVA, id: diva2:1899409
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, GD-2023/0034Available from: 2024-09-19 Created: 2024-09-19 Last updated: 2024-09-20Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(2712 kB)44 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 2712 kBChecksum SHA-512
38791e5cba74e3cc55d8032c6d44349fed85fabeabe8b56d2e1c20798a4273fa27bf1055c345998a640bac60dd86ded1e7accc6ed3bf330fdef70b3e6cdcc7ee
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Moreno-Llamas, AntonioSan Sebastian, MiguelGustafsson, Per E

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Moreno-Llamas, AntonioSan Sebastian, MiguelGustafsson, Per E
By organisation
Department of Epidemiology and Global Health
In the same journal
Social Science and Medicine
Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 44 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 133 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf