Construction of health opportunity inequalities through lifestyles.

Summary This thesis focuses on the measurement and understanding of inequalities of opportunity in health, i.e., inequalities attributable to factors that are not the responsibility of individuals, such as their background. We are specifically interested in the contribution of health behaviors in the construction of these inequalities. We develop our analysis through three axes: (i) the measurement of the respective importance of living conditions in childhood, level of education and health behaviors in the explanation of health inequalities. (ii) analysis of the mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of health behaviours, using the example of smoking and health care habits. (iii) the measurement of differences between European countries in inequalities of opportunity in health. The empirical analyses combine prospective data from a British cohort with retrospective data from a French survey and a European survey. The results highlight the contribution of childhood living conditions and educational level to health inequalities, both directly and indirectly through health behaviors.