Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health, University College London, London, UK.
Institute of Alcohol Studies, London, UK.
Nicotine Tob Res. 2021 Jan 7;23(1):107-114. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntaa030.
To gain a better understanding of the complex and independent associations between different measures of socioeconomic position (SEP) and smoking in England.
Between March 2013 and January 2019 data were collected from 120 496 adults aged 16+ in England taking part in the Smoking Toolkit Study. Of these, 18.04% (n = 21 720) were current smokers. Six indicators of SEP were measured: social grade, employment status, educational qualifications, home and car ownership and income. Models were constructed using ridge regression to assess the contribution of each measure of SEP, taking account of high collinearity.
The strongest predictor of smoking status was housing tenure. Those who did not own their own home had twice the odds of smoking compared with homeowners (odds ratio [OR] = 2.01). Social grade, educational qualification, and income were also good predictors. Those in social grades C1 (OR = 1.04), C2 (OR = 1.29), D (OR = 1.39), and E (OR = 1.78) had higher odds of smoking than those in social grade AB. Similarly, those with A-level/equivalent (OR = 1.15), GCSE/vocational (OR = 1.48), other/still studying (OR = 1.12), and no post-16 qualifications (OR = 1.48) had higher odds of smoking than those with university qualifications, as did those who earned in the lowest (OR = 1.23), third (OR = 1.18), and second quartiles (OR = 1.06) compared with those earning in the highest. Associations between smoking and employment (OR = 1.03) and car ownership (OR = 1.05) were much smaller.
Of a variety of socioeconomic measures, housing tenure appears to be the strongest independent predictor of smoking in England, followed by social grade, educational qualifications, and income. Employment status and car ownership have the lowest predictive power.
This study used ridge regression, a technique which takes into account high collinearity between variables, to gain a better understanding of the independent associations between different measures of SEP and smoking in England. The findings provide guidance as to which SEP measures one could use when trying to identifying individuals most at risk from smoking, with housing tenure identified as the strongest independent predictor.
为了更好地理解不同社会经济地位（SEP）衡量指标与英国吸烟之间复杂且独立的关联。
2013 年 3 月至 2019 年 1 月，在参与吸烟工具包研究的 120496 名 16 岁及以上的成年人中收集了数据。其中，18.04%（n=21720）为当前吸烟者。使用岭回归来评估每种社会经济地位衡量指标的贡献，共测量了六个社会经济地位指标：社会等级、就业状况、教育程度、住房和汽车拥有情况以及收入。这些模型考虑到高度共线性，考虑到高度共线性。
吸烟状况的最强预测指标是住房所有权。与房主相比，没有自己住房的人吸烟的可能性是两倍（优势比[OR] = 2.01）。社会等级、教育程度和收入也是很好的预测指标。那些处于社会等级 C1（OR = 1.04）、C2（OR = 1.29）、D（OR = 1.39）和 E（OR = 1.78）的人比处于社会等级 AB 的人吸烟的可能性更高。同样，那些具有 A 级/同等学历（OR = 1.15）、GCSE/职业（OR = 1.48）、其他/仍在学习（OR = 1.12）和没有 16 岁以上学历（OR = 1.48）的人比那些具有大学学历的人吸烟的可能性更高，那些收入处于最低（OR = 1.23）、第三（OR = 1.18）和第二四分位数（OR = 1.06）的人比收入最高的人吸烟的可能性更高。吸烟与就业（OR = 1.03）和汽车拥有（OR = 1.05）之间的关联要小得多。
在各种社会经济衡量指标中，住房所有权似乎是英格兰吸烟的最强独立预测指标，其次是社会等级、教育程度和收入。就业状况和汽车拥有量的预测能力最低。
本研究使用岭回归（一种考虑变量之间高度共线性的技术），更好地了解了不同社会经济地位衡量指标与英格兰吸烟之间的独立关联。研究结果为尝试确定最容易受到吸烟影响的个体时，可使用哪些社会经济地位衡量指标提供了指导，其中住房所有权被确定为最强的独立预测指标。
