Vegetarianism and mental health: Evidence from the 1970 British Cohort Study.

Background: Reducing animal product consumption has benefits for population health and the environment. The relationship between vegetarianism and mental health, however, remains poorly understood. This study explores this relationship in a nationally representative cohort in Great Britain.

Social disparities in alcohol consumption among Canadian emerging adults.

Introduction: Young adult drinking is a public health priority, but knowledge of socioeconomic status (SES) indicators and alcohol use among emerging adults (EAs; aged 18-29 years) is primarily informed by college samples, populations in their late teens and early twenties and non-Canadian data. We compared the association of three different SES indicators with monthly heavy episodic drinking (HED), less-than-monthly HED, no HED, and no drinking among Canadian EAs.

Methods: We pooled the 2015 to 2019 waves of the Canadian Community Health Survey to include participants aged 18 to 29 years (n = 29 598).

Trends in psychological distress in Great Britain, 1991-2019: evidence from three representative surveys.

Background: Previously improving UK mortality trends stalled around 2012, with evidence implicating economic policy as the cause. This paper examines whether trends in psychological distress across three population surveys show similar trends.

Methods: We report the percentages reporting psychological distress (4+ in the 12-item General Health Questionnaire) from Understanding Society (Great Britain, 1991-2019), Scottish Health Survey (SHeS, 1995-2019) and Health Survey for England (HSE, 2003-2018) for the population overall, and stratified by sex, age and area deprivation.

Do demographic and socioeconomic characteristics underpin differences in youth smoking initiation across Canadian provinces? Evidence from the Canadian Community Health Survey (2015-2018).

Introduction: Youth initiation may drive differences in smoking prevalence across Canadian provinces. Provincial differences in initiation relate to tobacco control strategies and public health funding, but have also been attributed to population characteristics. We test this hypothesis by examining the extent to which seven characteristics-immigration, language, family structure, education, income, home ownership and at-school status-explain differences in initiation across provinces.

Time trend analysis of social inequalities in psychological distress among young adults before and during the pandemic: evidence from the UK Household Longitudinal Study COVID-19 waves.

Background: Despite concerns about mental health problems among those aged 16-24 in England, which social groups have been most at risk, both over the past decade and during the COVID-19 pandemic, remains unclear.

Methods: We examined trends in psychological distress among young adults 16-24 years old in England using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Using longitudinal data as repeated cross-sectional waves, we examined differences over time in mean General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) scores from wave 1 (2009-2010) to wave 10 (2018-2019) and six COVID-19 waves collected between April and November 2020, by economic activity, cohabitation with parents, parental education, area deprivation, ethnicity, age and sex.

Initiation or cessation: what keeps the prevalence of smoking higher in Quebec than in the rest of Canada?

Introduction: We compared smoking initiation and cessation in Quebec versus the rest of Canada as possible underpinnings of the continued higher cigarette smoking prevalence in Quebec.

Methods: Data were drawn from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). We compared average and sex-stratified prevalence estimates of (1) current cigarette smoking in persons aged 15 years and older; (2) past-year initiation of cigarette smoking in those aged 12 to 17 and 18 to 24 years; and (3) past-year cessation in adults aged 25 years and older in Quebec versus the other nine Canadian provinces in each two-year CCHS cycle from 2007/08 to 2017/18.

Changes in Patterns of Social Role Combinations at Ages 25-26 among Those Growing Up in England between 1996 and 2015-16: Evidence from the 1970 British Cohort and Next Steps Studies.

Changes across education, employment, and family life over the past 20 years challenges the capacity of previously established social role combinations to continue representing the experiences of young men and women born since the late 1980s. Latent class analysis was used to derive patterns of role combinations at ages 25-26 in those growing up in England, using data from 3191 men and 3921 women in the 1970 British Cohort Study (1996) and 3426 men and 4281 women in the Next Steps study born in 1989-90 (2015-16). Role combinations in 1996 were well defined by five patterns across genders: educated, work-oriented, traditional family, fragile family, and slow starters.

Trends in young adults' mental distress and its association with employment: Evidence from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1993-2019.

Few have examined how employment is linked to trends in mental health among young adults across economic contexts in more recent years. To better understand the burden of non-employment and mental distress in this age group, this study examines the association of short-term (<1 year) and long-term (1+ year) out-of-work status with mental health across three recessions among young men and women ages 18-34. We report sex-stratified estimates of frequent mental distress (FMD), out-of-work status, and their association through adjusted prevalence ratios across 27 cycles of the U.

Socio-economic distribution of e-cigarette use among recent former regular smokers and current smokers at ages 25-26 in England.

Background And Aims: E-cigarettes may potentially help young adult smokers to quit smoking, yet little is known about differences among socio-economic groups. We examined associations between key socio-economic characteristics and e-cigarette use among recent former smokers and current smokers in a sample of young adults in England.

Design, Setting, Participants And Measurements: We used data on 346 recent former regular (daily for 12+ months) smokers and 1913 current smokers from the ages 25-26 wave of the Next Steps cohort study (2015-2016).

Socioeconomic inequalities in secondhand smoke exposure before, during and after implementation of Quebec's 2015 'An Act to Bolster Tobacco Control'.

Background: To better understand whether tobacco control policies are associated with changes in secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure across socioeconomic groups, we monitored differences in socioeconomic inequalities in SHS exposure in households and private vehicles among youth and adults before, during and after adoption of Quebec's 2015 .

Methods: Using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, we examined the prevalence of daily exposure to SHS in households and private vehicles among youth (ages 12 to 17) and adults (ages 18+) across levels of household education and income (separately) in 2013/2014, 2015/2016 and 2017/2018. We tested differences in the magnitude of differences in outcomes over time across education and income categories using logistic models with interaction terms, controlling for age and sex.

Cigarette smoking and E-cigarette use among young adults in the United States: Findings from the 2016-18 behavioral risk factor surveillance system.

Because there are few proven smoking cessation approaches for young adults, it is critical to consider the potential of e-cigarettes as an option. Evidence from 2012 to 2013 in the United States (U.S.

The role of education and other transition milestones in the progression of social inequalities in cigarette smoking between the ages of 18 and 25: Evidence from the Canadian National Population Health Survey.

Young adulthood is now considered a sensitive period in the progression of health inequalities over the life-course. This age group experiences highly dynamic and socially patterned life-course events that require nuanced modelling choices compared to those commonly used in public health sciences. To illustrate this, we estimate changes in the risk of smoking according to student status, employment status, living arrangements, and relationship status at different ages across education categories.

Health and voting over the course of adulthood: Evidence from two British birth cohorts.

Systematic differences in voter turnout limit the capacity of public institutions to address the needs of under-represented groups. One critical question relates to the role of health as a mechanism driving these inequalities. This study explores the associations of self-rated health (SRH) and limitations in everyday activities with voting over the course of adulthood in the 1958 National Child Development Study and the 1970 British Cohort Study.

Considering the age-graded nature of associations between socioeconomic characteristics and smoking during the transition towards adulthood.

Young adulthood is a sensitive period characterized by the accumulation of resources and transitions in and out of education, employment, family, and housing arrangements. The association between these characteristics and smoking outcomes likely varies with age yet few studies address its dynamic age-graded nature. To explore this, we examined 2083 young adults ages 18-25 from the 2011-2012 cross-sectional sample of the Montreal-based Interdisciplinary Study of Inequalities in Smoking.

Methodological systematic review of studies on social inequalities in smoking among young adults: A field coming of age?

Objective: Socioeconomic circumstances are critically important to addressing smoking. In young adulthood (ages 18-25), dynamic transitions in education, employment, family and housing complicate the measurement of socioeconomic circumstances. To better understand approaches to capturing these circumstances, this methodological systematic review examined how socioeconomic characteristics used to identify social inequalities in smoking among young adults are measured.

Inequalities in Hypertension and Diabetes in Canada: Intersections between Racial Identity, Gender, and Income.

A growing body of research from the United States informed by intersectionality theory indicates that racial identity, gender, and income are often entwined with one another as determinants of health in unexpectedly complex ways. Research of this kind from Canada is scarce, however. Using data pooled from ten cycles (2001-2013) of the Canadian Community Health Survey, we regressed hypertension (HT) and diabetes (DM) on income in subsamples of Black women (n = 3,506), White women (n = 336,341), Black men (n = 2,806) and White men (n = 271,260).

Rethinking the relationship between socioeconomic status and health: Challenging how socioeconomic status is currently used in health inequality research.

Aims: The Scandinavian Journal of Public Health recently reiterated the importance of addressing social justice and health inequalities in its new editorial policy announcement. One of the related challenges highlighted in that issue was the limited use of sociological theories able to inform the complexity linking the resources and mechanisms captured by the concept of socioeconomic status. This debate article argues that part of the problem lies in the often unchallenged reliance on a generic conceptualization and operationalization of socioeconomic status.

Do social characteristics influence smoking uptake and cessation during young adulthood?

Objectives: This study uses a Bourdieusian approach to assess young adults' resources and examines their association with smoking initiation and cessation.

Methods: Data were drawn from 1450 young adults participating in the Interdisciplinary Study of Inequalities in Smoking, a cohort study in Montreal, Canada. We used logistic regression models to examine the association between young adults' income, education, and peer smoking at baseline and smoking onset and cessation.