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 -