Education and health among U.S. working-age adults: a detailed portrait across the full educational attainment spectrum

Biodemography and Social Biology
Anna ZajacovaRichard G Rogers

Abstract

This article presents detailed estimates of relative and absolute health inequalities among U.S. working-age adults by educational attainment, including six postsecondary schooling levels. We also estimate the impact of several sets of mediating variables on the education-health gradient. Data from the 1997-2009 National Health Interview Survey (N = 178,103) show remarkable health differentials. For example, high school graduates have 3.5 times the odds of reporting "worse" health than do adults with professional or doctoral degrees. The probability of fair or poor health in mid-adulthood is less than 5 percent for adults with the highest levels of education but over 20 percent for adults without a high school diploma. The probability of reporting excellent health in the mid-forties is below 25 percent among high school graduates but over 50 percent for those adults who have professional degrees. These health differences characterize all the demographic subgroups examined in this study. Our results show that economic indicators and health behaviors explain about 40 percent of the education-health relationship. In the United States, adults with the highest educational degrees enjoy a wide array of benefits, including much more f...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 2, 2014·Preventive Medicine·Robert M Kaplan
Aug 1, 2014·Social Science Quarterly·Anna Zajacova, Bethany G Everett
Aug 28, 2012·Social Science & Medicine·Anna ZajacovaVicki Johnson-Lawrence
Aug 3, 2016·Population Research and Policy Review·Elizabeth M LawrenceAnna Zajacova
Dec 1, 2015·PloS One·Lucía Colodro-CondeJuan R Ordoñana
Nov 2, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Riccardo E MarioniIan J Deary
May 9, 2014·The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences·Anna ZajacovaPamela Herd
Jan 13, 2018·Annual Review of Public Health·Anna Zajacova, Elizabeth M Lawrence
Nov 22, 2019·The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences·Aniruddha Das
Jan 1, 2016·The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science·John Robert Warren

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