Cultural capital and smoking in young adults: applying new indicators to explore social inequalities in health behaviour.

Publisher: Oxford University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9204966 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1464-360X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 11011262 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Eur J Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Oxford : Oxford University Press
Original Publication: Stockholm, Sweden : Almqvist & Wiksell International, c1991-

Culture* ; Health Status Disparities*; Smoking/*epidemiology; Adolescent ; Adult ; Educational Status ; Family ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Switzerland/epidemiology ; Young Adult

Background: Associations between social status and health behaviours are well documented, but the mechanisms involved are less understood. Cultural capital theory may contribute to a better understanding by expanding the scope of inequality indicators to include individuals' knowledge, skills, beliefs and material goods to examine how these indicators impact individuals' health lifestyles. We explore the structure and applicability of a set of cultural capital indicators in the empirical exploration of smoking behaviour among young male adults.
Methods: We analysed data from the Swiss Federal Survey of Adolescents (CH-X) 2010-11 panel of young Swiss males (n = 10 736). A set of nine theoretically relevant variables (including incorporated, institutionalized and objectified cultural capital) were investigated using exploratory factor analysis. Regression models were run to observe the association between factor scores and smoking outcomes. Outcome measures consisted of daily smoking status and the number of cigarettes smoked by daily smokers.
Results: Cultural capital indicators aggregated in a three-factor solution representing 'health values', 'education and knowledge' and 'family resources'. Each factor score predicted the smoking outcomes. In young males, scoring low on health values, education and knowledge and family resources was associated with a higher risk of being a daily smoker and of smoking more cigarettes daily.
Conclusion: Cultural capital measures that include, but go beyond, educational attainment can improve prediction models of smoking in young male adults. New measures of cultural capital may thus contribute to our understanding of the social status-based resources that individuals can use towards health behaviours.
(© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.)

Date Created: 20150412 Date Completed: 20160706 Latest Revision: 20220321

20221213

10.1093/eurpub/ckv069

25862433