title: Socio-economic inequalities in smoking: an examination of generational trends in Great Britain.
abstract: This article examines pseudo-cohort trends in socio-economic inequalities in smoking behaviour. People born in 1926-1950 living in manual households were more likely to become smokers than those in non-manual households, but both groups subsequently gave up smoking at similar rates. Those in the 1956-1985 birth cohorts were less likely to smoke than people born earlier, but they were also less likely to give up. The rates of giving up among the non-manual group declined slightly compared with those born earlier. However there was a dramatic change for the manual group compared with earlier cohorts; the vast majority remained smokers, with rates stabilising around 45 per cent for men and 40 per cent for women.
authors.affiliation: Office for National Statistics.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012923:Social Class; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology