Socioeconomic status, social support, and oral health‐risk behaviors in Canadian adolescents

Abstract Objectives We tested hypotheses regarding how adolescent oral health‐related behaviors are associated with socioeconomic status (SES) and family and peer social support, including the extent to which such associations differ for boys and girls. Methods We analyzed data from the 2013/2014 Canadian Health Behavior in School‐aged Children Study for 20,357 adolescents ages 12–18 years. Family Affluence Scale was used to assess SES. Family and peer social support were assessed using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. We estimated average marginal effects from multivariable binary logistic regression models for three oral health‐risk behaviors outcomes: infrequent toothbrushing, high sugar‐sweetened beverage (SSB) intake, and high sweets consumption across both genders. Results Adolescents from low SES households had lower probability of parental and peer support, and were significantly more likely to report infrequent toothbrushing and high SSB consumption, both before and after controlling for both types of support. Lower family support was associated with higher probability of engaging in infrequent toothbrushing and high SSB intake, while lower peer support was associated with higher probability of engaging in infrequent toothbrushing and lower likelihood of engaging in high SSB consumption. The associations of family support with oral health‐related behaviors were somewhat stronger for boys than girls. Conclusions Low SES and low family support were associated with a higher likelihood of oral health‐risk behaviors (infrequent toothbrushing and SSB consumption). Regardless of adolescents' gender, parental support exerted a protective role, but peer support had countervailing risk and protective roles on oral health‐related behaviors.