title: Seat belt use and social inequality in Belgium.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To search for and quantify the importance of socio-economic inequality in seat belt use in young Belgians (15-24 years old).
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the data of the National Health Survey of Belgium (1997), socio-economic indicators were constructed combining characteristics of the individual and the household to which s/he 'belongs' (equivalent household income, employment, poverty, subjective poverty, and socio-economic insecurity) and the corresponding concentration curves and indices were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant differences were found in seat belt use related to young people's socio-economic status. The failure to buckle up was concentrated most heavily in the least favoured socio-economic groups. Such inequality was a constant finding, although its magnitude varied according to the socio-economic indicator used, going from -0.142 for the variable 'occupational category of the household' to -0.028 for the variable 'poverty'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This finding of true socio-economic inequality in the use of seat belts by 15-24 year olds should prompt special vigilance in health promotion approaches aimed at changing behaviour. It also underlines the importance of being attentive to the socio-economic indicators that are chosen to quantify such inequality in intra- and inter-country comparisons.
authors.affiliation: Health Policies & Systems Department, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. alain.leveque@ulb.ac.be
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leveque
authors.forename: Perrine
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Humblet
authors.forename: Raphaël
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lagasse
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001530:Belgium; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D012622:Seat Belts; D012923:Social Class; D012935:Social Justice