Social mobility and health: Evidence from the 1958 British birth cohort

A classic claim in social mobility theory holds that moving between social classes is inherently detrimental to health and wellbeing. However, empirical research on the association between social mobility and health has yielded inconsistent findings. Drawing on data from the 1958 British National Child Development Study and applying Diagonal Reference Models, this paper examines the association between intergenerational and intragenerational mobility with multiple mental, physical, and behavioural health outcomes. We find compelling evidence for acculturation processes: socially mobile individuals’ health outcomes are largely shaped by both their class of origin and destination, with limited evidence of additional, independent mobility effects. The only exception is women experiencing upward intragenerational mobility, who benefit from improved self-rated health beyond what is explained by their origin and destination class (0.10 higher, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.20). Across outcomes, psychological wellbeing, psychological distress, and life satisfaction are strongly tied to destination class, whereas physical health and health behaviours remain closely tied to origin class. We also observe gendered effects: women’s health is more consistently shaped by early life class than men’s. Overall, our empirical findings challenge the theoretical notion that movement between social classes necessarily undermines health.