TY - JOUR
T1 - The contribution of smoking to educational gradients in U.S. life expectancy
AU - Ho, Jessica Y.
AU - Fenelon, Andrew
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by National Science Foundation Grant DGE-0822, National Institute on Aging Grant T32 AG000139 to the Population Research Institute at Duke University, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant T32-HD007338-26 to the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University.
Publisher Copyright:
© American Sociological Association 2015.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Researchers have documented widening educational gradients in mortality in the United States since the 1970s. While smoking has been proposed as a key explanation for this trend, no prior study has quantified the contribution of smoking to increasing education gaps in longevity. We estimate the contribution of smoking to educational gradients in life expectancy using data on white men and women ages 50 and older from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (N = 283,430; 68,644 deaths) and the National Health Interview Survey (N = 584,811; 127,226 deaths) in five periods covering the 1980s to 2006. In each period, smoking makes an important contribution to education gaps in longevity for white men and women. Smoking accounts for half the increase in the gap for white women but does not explain the widening gap for white men in the most recent period. Addressing greater initiation and continued smoking among the less educated may reduce mortality inequalities.
AB - Researchers have documented widening educational gradients in mortality in the United States since the 1970s. While smoking has been proposed as a key explanation for this trend, no prior study has quantified the contribution of smoking to increasing education gaps in longevity. We estimate the contribution of smoking to educational gradients in life expectancy using data on white men and women ages 50 and older from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study (N = 283,430; 68,644 deaths) and the National Health Interview Survey (N = 584,811; 127,226 deaths) in five periods covering the 1980s to 2006. In each period, smoking makes an important contribution to education gaps in longevity for white men and women. Smoking accounts for half the increase in the gap for white women but does not explain the widening gap for white men in the most recent period. Addressing greater initiation and continued smoking among the less educated may reduce mortality inequalities.
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U2 - 10.1177/0022146515592731
DO - 10.1177/0022146515592731
M3 - Article
C2 - 26199287
AN - SCOPUS:84939600569
SN - 0022-1465
VL - 56
SP - 307
EP - 322
JO - Journal of health and social behavior
JF - Journal of health and social behavior
IS - 3
ER -