BRITISH WOMENS SMOKING IN THE EMPLOYERS AND MANAGERS SOCIOECONOMIC GROUP

This paper extends the recent work of Graham and Hunt [(1994) Women's smoking and measures of women's socio-economic statu sin the United Ki ngdom. Health Promotion International, 9, 81-88] by replicating their 'alternative' approach to the measurement of women's socio-economic gr oup (SEG) using more recent data-the General Household Survey (GHS) fo r 1990-and by examining in more detail some of the specificities of sm oking amongst women in the employer/manager SEG. The paper concurs wit h many of the conclusions of their analysis, but with one significant exception. Whereas Graham and Hunt claim that there is 'limited eviden ce for a link between working conditions and smoking status' amongst w omen in employer/manager occupations, we demonstrate, to the contrary, that it is such differences that largely account for variations in th e propensity to smoke amongst women in the SEG. We conclude that it is women working as employers and/or managers in small businesses who po ssess the greatest propensity to smoke amongst women in the SEG.