Social foreground and health

The overall aim of this project is to study the impact of social foreground, measured by the socioeconomic resources of adult offspring, on health, healthcare use and mortality in old age

This project is the first to investigate social foreground in a Danish context. Life expectancy continues to increase in the Nordic countries; however older people’s health and longevity differ depending on their own, their partner’s and even their parents’ socioeconomic position. Recently, the concept of social foreground has been introduced to contribute to the explanation of differences in health and longevity of older adults. The concept contends that the socioeconomic accomplishments of adult offspring improve health and longevity of parents in old age. The mechanisms behind social foreground are not fully established but may include the transfer of material and non-material resources.

Based on Berkman and Glass’ (2000) theory on how social relations impact health, Torssander (2013) has suggested that social support, social influence, and access to resources are three possible pathways by which socioeconomic position of adult offspring can influence parental health in old age. For example, adult offspring’s education may influence parental health through lifestyle, use of healthcare and adherence to medical treatments. Adult offspring’s occupation may influence parental health through stable and privileged labor market positions that provide knowledge and contacts that are important for health and navigation in the health care system, and finally flexible work hours that enable adult offspring to engage in parental contact with health and eldercare. Adult offspring’s income may influence parental health through material means. In this project, social foreground and health in old age was investigated using Danish and Swedish nationwide register data