@article{Ovrum:125862,
      recid = {125862},
      author = {Ovrum, Arnstein and Gustavsen, Geir Waehler and  Rickertsen, Kyrre},
      title = {Health inequalities over the adult life course: the role  of lifestyle choices},
      address = {2012},
      number = {1007-2016-79662},
      pages = {35},
      year = {2012},
      abstract = {The relationship between socioeconomic status and health  is dynamic and evolves throughout the adult life course.  However, relatively little empirical attention has been  directed to the role of health affecting lifestyle choices  in explaining these dynamics. Using Norwegian repeated  cross-section data from the period 1997–2009, this study  explores how the income and education gradients in physical  activity, the consumption of fruits and vegetables,  cigarette smoking and self-assessed health evolve over the  age range 25–79 years. The findings indicate that while the  education gradients in physical activity and the  consumption of fruits and vegetables remain relatively  stable throughout the adult life course, the education  gradient in smoking is clearly decreasing in age. Further,  with the exception of the income gradient in physical  activity among females, the income gradients in lifestyles  are generally concave in age and slightly decreasing in  older age. However, the role of lifestyles in moderating  the relationship between income and self-assessed health  appears modest. This result partly reflects that while the  income gradients in lifestyles decrease substantially once  we control for education, the reverse is not true. Overall,  while income and education differences in lifestyles should  generally contribute to cumulative advantage effects in  health by socioeconomic status over the adult life course,  our results provide some evidence of increased health  consciousness and associated lifestyle improvements in age  among lower socioeconomic status groups. This could  potentially contribute to reducing cumulative advantage  effects in health by socioeconomic status at older ages.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/125862},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.125862},
}