Data Insight: Youth movements, social mobility and health inequalities

Substantial inequalities exist in adult health, including mental health, across the UK. Socioeconomic position is an important determining factor for later-life health and so understanding its production is a key public health issue.

Several possible pathways between socioeconomic position and adult mental health have been proposed. Higher socioeconomic position may mean a reduced chance of exposure to life stressors particularly those related to poverty or deprivation. It may also mean a higher quality of life resulting from an increased experience of control or choice in day-to-day living and working.

The formal schools-based education system is a major state intervention aimed at producing a fair distribution of socioeconomic position in later life. However, there is growing evidence that other skills that can be gained outwith the formal education system may be as important. Soft cognitive skills, such as motivation, self-regulation and ability to work with others, have been shown to be predictive of positive outcomes in school, the labour market, and in general life. These can be developed in an individual but they may also be skills that more advantaged children are preferentially exposed to.

It is our hypothesis that some youth movements, such as Scouts, Guides and Boys Brigade, have an approach to youth development which enhances these skills. These skills may subsequently increase later-life social mobility - particularly in those who are from more disadvantaged backgrounds - and through this mechanism they may experience better health outcomes compared to their peers.

Read publication