Erik Bihagen

Socioeconomic position and education in patients with coeliac disease

BACKGROUND AND AIM Socioeconomic position and education are strongly associated with several chronic diseases, but their relation to coeliac disease is unclear. We examined educational level and socioeconomic position in patients with coeliac disease. METHODS We identified 29,096 patients with coeliac disease through biopsy reports (defined as Marsh 3: villous atrophy) from all Swedish pathology departments (n=28). Age- and sex-matched controls were randomly sampled from the Swedish Total Population Register (n=145,090). Data on level of education and socioeconomic position were obtained from the Swedish Education Register and the Occupational Register. We calculated odds ratios for the risk of having coeliac disease based on socioeconomic position according to the European Socioeconomic Classification (9 levels) and education. RESULTS Compared to individuals with high socioeconomic position (level 1 of 9) coeliac disease was less common in the lowest socioeconomic stratum (routine occupations=level 9 of 9: adjusted odds ratio=0.89; 95% confidence interval=0.84-0.94) but not less common in individuals with moderately low socioeconomic position: (level 7/9: adjusted odds ratio=0.96; 95% confidence interval=0.91-1.02; and level 8/9: adjusted odds ratio=0.99; 95% confidence interval=0.93-1.05). Coeliac disease was not associated with educational level. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, diagnosed coeliac disease was slightly less common in individuals with low socioeconomic position but not associated with educational level. Coeliac disease may be unrecognised in individuals of low socioeconomic position.

The glass ceiling – where is it? Women's and men's career prospects in the private vs. the public sector in Sweden 1979–2000

Previous research suggests that women have more limited career opportunities than men. Using Swedish longitudinal data, covering the period between 1979 and 2000, more light is shed on the association between hierarchical levels and differences between mens and womens career opportunities in terms of occupational transitions. The analyses indicate that women face the greatest hinderance to advancement at lower hierarchical levels and that these disadvantages attenuate with higher hierarchical levels. These results contradict the common idea of a glass ceiling, ie that problems for women accrue with increasing hierarchical levels. The findings point to the need for focusing more on gender inequalities at low hierarchical positions although the glass ceiling hypothesis cannot be dismissed altogether. Moreover, the results do not support the view that the gender penalty in careers is larger in the private sector as compared to the public sector.

Occupational Attainment and Career Progression in Sweden

ABSTRACT We analyze occupational attainment and career progression over the life course for Swedish men and women, born in 1925–1974. Careers progress (measured as improvements in occupational prestige) fast during the first 5–10 years in the labour market, and flatten out afterwards (approximately between 30–40 years of age). This is in line with the occupational status maturation hypothesis. Both class origin and educational attainment affect occupational attainment. The effects of educational attainment vary more over the career, but depend on the educational attainment level in question. Successive cohorts of women gain higher occupational prestige, and continue to gain in occupational prestige longer across their careers. We also find that cohorts that entered the labour market in times of economic downturns and restructuring (the oil crisis years and the early 1990s) had more difficulties in establishing their careers. Returns to education generally increase across cohorts, while class background differences decrease, as has been reported in earlier research.

Marital status, education, and income in relation to the risk of esophageal and gastric cancer by histological type and site

Marital status, income, and education might influence the risk of esophageal and gastric cancer, but the literature is limited. A large study addressing subtypes of these tumors was used to clarify these associations.

Class Origin Effects on Downward Career Mobility in Sweden 1982—2001

This article sheds light on the impact of class origin on career mobility by focusing on downward mobility from the so-called Service I class, which is the most privileged class of employees within the EGP (Erikson—Goldthorpe—Portocarero) class schema. A substantial proportion of the incumbents within Service I originate from the working class. It could be assumed that these people would experience higher levels of downward career mobility. Using Swedish survey data with panels covering the time period 1982 to 2001, this hypothesis receives support for women but not for men. A lower level of educational attainment characteristic of people originating in the working class seems to explain part, but not all, of the association between class origin and downward career mobility. An explanation is suggested based on the assumption of different responses to the problem of combining family and working life for women with different class origins.

Stress resilience in adolescence and subsequent antidepressant and anxiolytic medication in middle aged men : Swedish cohort study

It is unclear whether psychological resilience to stress in adolescence represents a persistent characteristic relevant to the subsequent risk for depression and anxiety in later adulthood. We aimed to test whether low psychological stress resilience assessed in adolescence is associated with an increased risk of receiving medication for depression and anxiety in middle age. We utilized Swedish register-based cohort study. Men born between 1952 and 1956 (n = 175,699), who underwent compulsory assessment for military conscription in late adolescence were followed to examine subsequent risk of pharmaceutically-treated depression and anxiety in middle age, from 2006 to 2009 corresponding to ages between 50 and 58 years, using Cox regression. The associations of stress resilience with prescription of antidepressant and anxiolytics medication through potential mediating factors cognitive and physical function and adult socioeconomic factors were calculated. Low stress resilience was associated with elevated risks for antidepressant (hazard ratio (HR):1.5 (95% CI 1.4 1.6)) and anxiolytics (HR:2.4 (CI 2.0 2.7)) medication. Adjustment for measures of childhood living circumstances attenuated the associations somewhat. Around a third of association with low stress resilience, and a half of that with moderate resilience, was mediated through cognitive and physical function in adolescence and adult socioeconomic factors. The magnitude of the inverse association of higher cognitive function with antidepressant medication was eliminated among those with low stress resilience. These results indicate that low stress resilience in adolescence is associated with an increased risk for antidepressant and anxiolytics medication over 30 years later, in part mediated through developmental factors in adolescence and socioeconomic circumstances in adulthood, and low stress resilience can diminish or eliminate the inverse association of higher cognitive function with antidepressant medication.

Using occupation-based social classifications

Occupation-based social classifications are important social indicators, but are easily misunderstood. Using survey data from the UK and Sweden, we summarize the empirical relations between a number of alternative occupation-based social classifications. Results indicate similarity between most measures, though there are often quite considerable differences in the properties of related classifications according to the level of detail at which they have been operationalized (such as the number of categories). While these findings may seem unsurprising, they are in conflict with canonical theoretical interpretations attributed to occupation-based measures, where the level of detail is often overlooked, whereas the concepts associated with different measures are emphasized.

The gender gap in the business elite: stability and change in characteristics of Swedish top wage earners in large private companies, 1993-2007

Using unique Swedish register data on all employees in large private companies, we study trends in the gender composition of top wage employees from 1993 to 2007. The analyses reveal that the likelihood of women holding top wage positions has more than doubled since the early 1990s, but men are still markedly over-represented in this group of employees. We focus on educational choices, considering level and field of study as well as university attended. One important conclusion is that, although education is important in reaching a top wage position, field of education and university attended only marginally explain the gender gap. However, relative to other women, having a career signalling degree (i.e. economics, law or engineering) from a more prestigious university helps women. Dividing the sample into different cohorts indicates that the gender gap is partly a cohort effect, i.e. it is smaller among those born in the 1960s compared to cohorts born in the 1940s and 1950s. It should be noted that there is still a gender gap among employees born in the 1960s and that the gap widens after age 30. Future studies should focus more deeply on this family-related ‘period of divergence’.

Labour Market Rewards and the Neo-Classical Soup An Analysis of the Relation between Social Class and Economic Inequalities in Sweden in the Last Quarter of the 20th Century

Earlier research indicates clear gaps in wages and wage mobility between social classes. However, it has been argued that classes may be in the process of dissolving. Using Swedish cross-sectional and panel data, the following conclusions are drawn. The mismatch between class and economic reward increased in the last quarter of the 20th century, i.e. the data show a growing proportion of people whose wages are similar to those in other classes despite diverging mean differences in wages classes in the 1990s. Two processes are detected explaining this development: (1) changing age effects in the working class and (2) a dramatically widening sector cleavage within the service class. It is argued that these processes have implications for two of the main tasks of class analysis, i.e. assessing the development of inequality of opportunity and using class as an explanatory factor.

The direct and indirect effects of social background on occupational positions in Sweden: new evidence on old questions

This chapter looks at Sweden, long extolled as an egalitarian society with low economic inequalities and high levels of equality of opportunity (e.g., Bjorklund and Jantti 2011). Our research quest ...