title: Educational inequalities in smoking over the life cycle: an analysis by cohort and gender.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The study investigates the life cycle patterns of educational inequalities in smoking according to gender over three successive generations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Based on retrospective smoking histories collected by the nationwide French Health Barometer survey 2010, we explored educational inequalities in smoking at each age, using the relative index of inequality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Educational inequalities in smoking increase across cohorts for men and women, corresponding to a decline in smoking among the highly educated alongside progression among the lower educated. The analysis also shows a life cycle evolution: for all cohorts and for men and women, inequalities are considerable during adolescence, then start declining from 18 years until the age of peak prevalence (around 25), after which they remain stable throughout the life cycle, even tending to rise for the most recent cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This analysis contributes to the description of the "smoking epidemic" and highlights adolescence and late adulthood as life cycle stages with greater inequalities.
authors: Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, 133 Boulevard Davout, 75980, Paris Cedex 20, France. damien.bricard@ined.fr.
authors: Damien
authors: D
authors: Bricard
authors: Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, 133 Boulevard Davout, 75980, Paris Cedex 20, France.|PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine, LEDa-LEGOS, Paris, France.
authors: Florence
authors: F
authors: Jusot
authors: French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT), Saint-Denis, France.|National Institute for Health Promotion and Health Education (INPES), Saint-Denis, France.|Cermes 3, Cesames Team (Research Centre Medicine, Sciences, Health, Mental Health, Health Policy), CNRS UMR 8211, Inserm U988, University of Paris Descartes, EHESS, Paris, France.
authors: François
authors: F
authors: Beck
authors: Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, 133 Boulevard Davout, 75980, Paris Cedex 20, France.
authors: Myriam
authors: M
authors: Khlat
authors: Institut National d'Etudes Démographiques, 133 Boulevard Davout, 75980, Paris Cedex 20, France.|Inserm U1178, Paris, France.
authors: Stéphane
authors: S
authors: Legleye
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cohort; France; Inequalities; Life cycle; Smoking