Finn Hedefalk

Researcher

Micro-level childhood neighborhoods and later-life hospital admissions, Sweden, 1939-2015

Author

Finn Hedefalk
Martin Dribe
Ingrid Kirsten van Dijk

Summary, in English

We study how childhood neighborhood SES affects cause-specific health in adulthood. By using geocoded longitudinal microdata for the city of Landskrona, 1939-1967, linked to Swedish national registers, 1968-2015, we apply a life-course of place approach to measure cumulative neighborhood conditions. From 1939 to 1967, the whole population is geocoded at the address-level, and we observe their full residential histories within the city. Hence, we can measure the SES of everyone’s nearby childhood peers using age-adjusted neighborhood sizes. In early childhood we define the neighborhood as the courtyard or adjacent street, and then we dynamically expand the neighborhood size as the child grows. In the nationwide follow-up, 1968-2015, we use information on hospital admissions grouped by preventability. Thus, we can study the lasting impacts of neighborhood peers on adult health behaviors.

Department/s