Catching the habit: a study of inequality of opportunity in smoking-related mortality

TitleCatching the habit: a study of inequality of opportunity in smoking-related mortality
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2011
AuthorsBalia, S
Journal Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society)
Volume174
Issue1
Pagination175-194
Abstract

The paper presents a latent factor model for initiation of smoking, cessation and mortality using the British Health and Lifestyle Survey. This allows us to investigate inequality of opportunity in risk of mortality, focusing on the intergenerational transmission of smoking. We find that the hazard of mortality is higher for current and former smokers relative to never smokers. Furthermore we find that parental smoking plays an important role in the dynamics of smoking and indirectly affects mortality. Predictions derived from the model show that inequality in mortality decreases if individuals adopt the best level of effort (not smoking) or if circumstances are favourable (if parents are non-smokers).

URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1467-985X.2010.00654.x
DOI10.1111/j.1467-985X.2010.00654.x
Keywordsduration analysis, inequality of opportunity, latent factors, mortality, smoking