Does education confer a culture of healthy behavior? Smoking and drinking patterns in Danish twins
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Standard
Does education confer a culture of healthy behavior? Smoking and drinking patterns in Danish twins. / Johnson, Wendy; Kyvik, Kirsten Ohm; Mortensen, Erik L; Skytthe, Axel; Batty, G David; Deary, Ian J.
I: American Journal of Epidemiology, Bind 173, Nr. 1, 01.01.2011, s. 55-63.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Does education confer a culture of healthy behavior? Smoking and drinking patterns in Danish twins
AU - Johnson, Wendy
AU - Kyvik, Kirsten Ohm
AU - Mortensen, Erik L
AU - Skytthe, Axel
AU - Batty, G David
AU - Deary, Ian J
PY - 2011/1/1
Y1 - 2011/1/1
N2 - More education is associated with healthier smoking and drinking behaviors. Most analyses of effects of education focus on mean levels. Few studies have compared variance in health-related behaviors at different levels of education or analyzed how education impacts underlying genetic and environmental sources of health-related behaviors. This study explored these influences. In a 2002 postal questionnaire, 21,522 members of the Danish Twin Registry, born during 1931-1982, reported smoking and drinking habits. The authors used quantitative genetic models to examine how these behaviors' genetic and environmental variances differed with level of education, adjusting for birth-year effects. As expected, more education was associated with less smoking, and average drinking levels were highest among the most educated. At 2 standard deviations above the mean educational level, variance in smoking and drinking was about one-third that among those at 2 standard deviations below, because fewer highly educated people reported high levels of smoking or drinking. Because shared environmental variance was particularly restricted, one explanation is that education created a culture that discouraged smoking and heavy drinking. Correlations between shared environmental influences on education and the health behaviors were substantial among the well-educated for smoking in both sexes and drinking in males, reinforcing this notion.
AB - More education is associated with healthier smoking and drinking behaviors. Most analyses of effects of education focus on mean levels. Few studies have compared variance in health-related behaviors at different levels of education or analyzed how education impacts underlying genetic and environmental sources of health-related behaviors. This study explored these influences. In a 2002 postal questionnaire, 21,522 members of the Danish Twin Registry, born during 1931-1982, reported smoking and drinking habits. The authors used quantitative genetic models to examine how these behaviors' genetic and environmental variances differed with level of education, adjusting for birth-year effects. As expected, more education was associated with less smoking, and average drinking levels were highest among the most educated. At 2 standard deviations above the mean educational level, variance in smoking and drinking was about one-third that among those at 2 standard deviations below, because fewer highly educated people reported high levels of smoking or drinking. Because shared environmental variance was particularly restricted, one explanation is that education created a culture that discouraged smoking and heavy drinking. Correlations between shared environmental influences on education and the health behaviors were substantial among the well-educated for smoking in both sexes and drinking in males, reinforcing this notion.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Adult
KW - Aged
KW - Alcohol Drinking
KW - Denmark
KW - Diseases in Twins
KW - Educational Status
KW - Female
KW - Health Behavior
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Middle Aged
KW - Questionnaires
KW - Retrospective Studies
KW - Smoking
KW - Twins
KW - Young Adult
U2 - 10.1093/aje/kwq333
DO - 10.1093/aje/kwq333
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 21051448
VL - 173
SP - 55
EP - 63
JO - American Journal of Epidemiology
JF - American Journal of Epidemiology
SN - 0002-9262
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 33184689