Inequalities? Social class differentials in health in British youth

In the British context, there is a widespread assumption that inequalities in health between social classes are a persistent feature of the life-course, an assumption appearing most plausible by reference to the more accessible published statistics on the issue. However, the age-bands typically employed are in fact so broad as to obscure important life-stages altogether. One such stage is youth which on the evidence of the major indicators of mortality, chronic illness and self-rated health is characterised more by the absence than presence of class gradients. That social class differentials re-emerge quite dramatically after this relative equalisation in youth has implications for the broader debate about the explanation of inequalities in health.