Youth Who Achieve Upward Socioeconomic Mobility Display Lower Psychological Distress But Higher Metabolic Syndrome Rates as Adults: Prospective Evidence From Add Health and MIDUS

摘要

People with higher socioeconomic status generally enjoy better cardiovascular health across the life course than those with lower status. However, recent studies of upward mobility, where a child goes on to achieve higher socioeconomic status than his or her parents, suggest that it entails a tradeoff between better psychological well‐being and worse cardiometabolic health. In this study, we consider further evidence of this tradeoff in 2 multidecade studies, asking how upward income mobility relates to subsequent perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and metabolic syndrome. We ask parallel questions about downward mobility. Finally, given shifting patterns of mobility in recent generations, we also consider whether mobility's association with health outcomes differs for individuals born in the middle and later parts of the 20th century.