Intergenerational educational mobility and smoking: a study of 20 European countries using diagonal reference models

Area of Science:

• Sociology
• Public Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Intergenerational educational mobility, a shift in social status across generations, is linked to health behaviors.
• Previous research has not fully clarified the direct relationship between the process of social mobility and smoking.
• Understanding this link is crucial for public health interventions targeting smoking cessation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between intergenerational educational mobility and the likelihood of smoking.
• To determine if social mobility itself, independent of other factors, influences smoking behavior.

Main Methods:

• Utilized cross-nationally comparable data from the European Social Survey (2014) health module.
• Analyzed data from 22,336 respondents aged 25-64 across 20 countries.
• Employed diagonal reference models to assess the relationship between educational mobility and smoking (daily/occasional).

Main Results:

• Downward intergenerational educational mobility was significantly associated with increased odds of smoking in both men (OR=1.34) and women (OR=1.61).
• Upward intergenerational educational mobility showed a negative association with smoking, but this effect was only observed among women.
• These associations remained significant after adjusting for country and age.

Conclusions:

• The process of intergenerational educational mobility is demonstrably linked to an individual's propensity to smoke.
• This association between social mobility and smoking is not explained by conventional smoking-related covariates.
• Findings highlight social mobility as a relevant factor in understanding smoking disparities.