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Early-life characteristics and educational disparities in smoking

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  • Andersson, Matthew A.
  • Maralani, Vida

Abstract

Educational inequalities in adult health outcomes are well-established, but it remains unclear when and how these disparities emerge across the life course. We use the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS) to examine the links between early-life characteristics (cognitive, social and emotional, familial, peer, socioeconomic, school- and health-related) and emergent disparities in smoking. We examine whether characteristics from childhood explain differences in smoking initiation at ages 16 and 26 by the education respondents eventually obtain. Using characteristics from ages 0, 5, 10, 16, and 26, our results reveal that cognitive, socioeconomic, and health-related factors together explain little of the education-smoking link. However, characteristics measured during adolescence such as school attachment and having friends who smoke account for about half (49%) of the education-smoking association at age 16 and most of the association (67%) at age 26. Models of smoking initiation between ages 16 and 26 reveal a similar pattern of results. In contrast, educational disparities in quitting at age 26 exist only for men and are not explained by observed life-course characteristics, including those from adolescence. Further analyses using an extended vector of life course covariates from age 10 uphold our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Andersson, Matthew A. & Maralani, Vida, 2015. "Early-life characteristics and educational disparities in smoking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 138-147.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:144:y:2015:i:c:p:138-147
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.09.027
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    Cited by:

    1. Lei Jin & Lin Tao & Xiangqian Lao, 2022. "Diverging Trends and Expanding Educational Gaps in Smoking in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-12, April.
    2. Jürges Hendrik & Meyer Sophie-Charlotte, 2020. "Educational Differences in Smoking: Selection Versus Causation," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(4), pages 467-492, August.
    3. Kristin J. Kleinjans & Andrew Gill, 2022. "Intergenerational Transmission of Disadvantage: Negative Parental Selection, Economic Upheaval, and Smoking," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 799-814, December.
    4. Matthew A. Andersson & Vida Maralani & Renae Wilkinson, 2022. "Origins and Destinations, but How Much and When? Educational Disparities in Smoking and Drinking Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(2), pages 521-558, April.
    5. Yoonyoung Choi & Hui Zheng, 2023. "Onset and Cessation of Smoking: Temporal Dynamics and Racial Difference in Educational Smoking Disparities among Women," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(6), pages 1-26, December.

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