Das-Munshi J, Leavey G, Stansfeld SA, Prince MJ. Does social disadvantage over the life-course account for alcohol and tobacco use in Irish people? Birth cohort study. Eur J Public Health. 2014 Aug;24(4):594-9.

A birth cohort study used prospective data to establish if childhood adversity relating to the settlement experiences of Irish-born parents might account for downstream adverse health-related behaviours in second-generation Irish respondents in adulthood.

The authors found that relative to the rest of the cohort, the prevalence of harmful/hazardous alcohol use was elevated in early adulthood for second-generation men and women, although it reduced by age 42. Second-generation Irish men were more likely to report binge alcohol use, and second-generation Irish women were more likely to smoke, at mid-life.

Childhood disadvantage partially mediated associations between second-generation Irish status and mid-life alcohol and tobacco use, although these were modest for associations with smoking in Irish women.

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