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Objectives: Local government concerns over expenditure on social and healthcare are growing. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between a weak 'sense of coherence' (SOC) in teens and their subsequent risk of receiving social and healthcare benefits during young adulthood, and to monitor how SOC developed during this period. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: North Denmark Region. Participants: 773 Pupils from seventh and eighth forms who answered a questionnaire in 1998. Outcome measures: Different social benefits (from the Danish DREAM database embracing disbursed public social benefits). Change in SOC score from 1998 to 2010. Results: 722 had answered seven items of the original SOC-13 questionnaire (denoted by SOC-7). Girls with a weak SOC-7 (the lowest 1st quartile) in 1998 had a significantly increased risk of receiving unemployment benefits (RR 1.3 (1.1 to 1.6)), social assistance (RR 1.8 (1.3 to 2.5)) and sickness benefits (RR 1.5 (1.2 to 2.0)) compared with girls with a strong SOC-7. For boys, only minor protective and non-significant differences were found. The SOC answers from 1998 and 2010 were compared (n=394). SOC increased significantly and mostly in girls. Conclusions: SOC-7 may serve as a predictor for social life event outcomes and hence facilitate an early identification and a selective approach to support teenage girls with a weak SOC. From adolescence to young adulthood, SOC-7 was of a relatively unstable nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to establish if social inequalities in early childhood, particularly living in a socially and economically deprived neighbourhood, are predictive of later unemployment., Material and Methods: A cohort was established in 1987. It consists of 8-9 year-old children living in a socially deprived suburb who were followed in national registers for all categories of welfare benefits. The follow-up covered the period when participants were 21-27 years of age. A control group with the same age and gender distribution who were living in a neighbouring, relatively privileged middle class district were also followed for the purpose of comparison., Results: The annual unemployment rate during the seven years of follow-up was significantly higher in the deprived neighbourhood group than in the middle class neighbourhood group, whereas long-term unemployment lasting more than two years did not differ significantly between the groups. Childhood background including a mother receiving social benefit was an independent factor associated with increased risk of later unemployment, whereas gender and single parenthood were not., Conclusion: The present findings suggest that socioeconomic disadvantage during childhood substantially increases the risk of unemployment in early adulthood, even during a follow-up period in the first decade of the 21st century when employment opportunities in Denmark were excellent., Funding: not relevant., Trial Registration: not relevant.