The influence of education on health: an empirical assessment of OECD countries for the period 1995–2015

Archives of Public Health - 2020
Viju Raghupathi1, Wullianallur Raghupathi2
1Koppelman School of Business, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11210, USA
2Gabelli School of Business Fordham University, 140 W. 62nd Street, New York, NY, 10023, USA

Tóm tắt

Abstract Background A clear understanding of the macro-level contexts in which education impacts health is integral to improving national health administration and policy. In this research, we use a visual analytic approach to explore the association between education and health over a 20-year period for countries around the world. Method Using empirical data from the OECD and the World Bank for 26 OECD countries for the years 1995–2015, we identify patterns/associations between education and health indicators. By incorporating pre- and post-educational attainment indicators, we highlight the dual role of education as both a driver of opportunity as well as of inequality. Results Adults with higher educational attainment have better health and lifespans compared to their less-educated peers. We highlight that tertiary education, particularly, is critical in influencing infant mortality, life expectancy, child vaccination, and enrollment rates. In addition, an economy needs to consider potential years of life lost (premature mortality) as a measure of health quality. Conclusions We bring to light the health disparities across countries and suggest implications for governments to target educational interventions that can reduce inequalities and improve health. Our country-level findings on NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) rates offer implications for economies to address a broad array of vulnerabilities ranging from unemployment, school life expectancy, and labor market discouragement. The health effects of education are at the grass roots-creating better overall self-awareness on personal health and making healthcare more accessible.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Andersen RM, Newman JF. Societal and individual determinants of medical care utilization in the United States. Milbank Mem Fund Q Health Soc. 1973;51(1):95–124.

Andersen RM. Revisiting the behavioral model and access to medical care: does it matter? J Health Social Behav. 1995;36(1):1–10.

Baker DP. The Schooled Society: The Educational Transformation of Global Culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press: 2014; 360.

Becker GS. Human capital: a theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press; 1964.

Berkman LF, Syme SL. Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents. Oxford Acad J. 1979;109(2):186–204.

Crimmins EM, Kim JK, Vasunilashorn S. Biodemography: new approaches to understanding trends and differences in population health and mortality. Demography. 2010;47:S41–64.

Spence M. Job market signalling. The Quarterly J Econ. 1973;87:355–79.

Cutler DM, Lleras-Muney A. Education and Health: Evaluating Theories and Evidence: NBER Working Papers; 2006. p. 12352.

Feinstein L. What are the effects of education on health? OECD Proceedings of the Copenhagen Symposium; 2006..

Folkman S, Lazarus RS. An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. J Health Soc Behav. 1980;21(3):219–39.

Freedman VA, Martin LG. The role of education in explaining and forecasting trends in functional limitations among older Americans. Demography. 1999;36(4):461–73.

Freese J, Lutfey K. Fundamental causality: challenges of an animating concept for medical sociology. In: Pescosolido BA, Martin JK, McLeod JD, Rogers A, editors. Handbook of the Sociology of Health, Illness, and Healing: a blueprint for the 21st century. New York: Springer; 2011. p. 67–81.

Fouweather T, Gillies C, Wohland P, Van Oyen H, Nusselde W, Robine J, Cambois E, Jagger C. Comparison of socio-economic indicators explaining inequalities in healthy life years at age 50 in Europe: 2005 and 2010. Eur J Pub Health. 2015;25:978–83.

George LK, Gwyther LP. Caregiver Weil-being: a multidimensional examination of family caregivers of demented adults. Gerontologist. 1986;26(3):253–9.

Goldman D, Smith JP. The increasing value of education to health. Soc Sc Med. 2011;72(10):1728–37.

Harper AC, Lambert LJ. The health of populations: an introduction. New York: Springer Publishing Company; 1994.

Health 2020: Education and health through the life-course. WHO Europe Sector Brief on Education Health; 2015. http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/324619/Health-2020-Education-and-health-through-the-life-course-en.pdf?ua=1.

Kino S, Bernabé E, Sabbah W. The role of healthcare and education systems in co-occurrence of health risk behaviours in 27 European countries. Eur J Public Health. 2018;28(1):186–92.

Landerman LR, Burns BJ, Swartz MS, Wagner HR, George LK. The relationship between insurance coverage and psychiatric disorder in predicting use of mental health services. Am J Psychol. 1994;151(12):1785.

Lynch SM. Cohort and life-course patterns in the relationship between education and health: a hierarchical approach. Demography. 2003;40(2):309–31.

Mackenbach J, Kunst A. Measuring the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities in health: an overview of available measures illustrated with two examples from Europe. Soc Sci Med. 1997;44(6):757–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(96)00073-1.

Manton KG, Corder L, Stallard E. Chronic disability trends in elderly United States populations: 1982-1994. Natl Acad Sci. 1997;94(6):2593–8.

Mirowski J, Ross CE. Education, learned effectiveness and health. London Rev Edu. 2005;3(3):205–20.

Montez JK, Berkman LF. Trends in the educational gradient of mortality among US adults aged 45 to 84 years: bringing regional context into the explanation. Am J Pub Health. 2014;104(1):e82–90.

Montez JK, Zajacova A. Trends in mortality risk by education level and cause of death among US white women from 1986 to 2006. Am J Pub Health. 2013;103:473–9.

Olshansky SJ, Antonucci T, Berkman L, Binstock RH, Boersch-Supan A, Cacioppo JT, Carnes BA, Carstensen LL, Fried LP, Goldman DP, Jackson J, Kohli M, Rother J, Zheng Y, Rowe J. Differences in life expectancy due to race and educational differences are widening, and many may not catch up. Health Aff. 2012;31(8):1803–13.

Pamuk ER. Social-class inequality in infant mortality in England and Wales from 1921 to 1980. Eur J Popul 1988; 4, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01797104.

Phelan JC, Link BG, Tehranifar P. Social conditions as fundamental causes of health inequalities: Theory, evidence, and policy implications. J Health Soc Behav 2010; 51: S28 S40. doi:10.1177/0022146510383498.

Renard F, Devleesschauwer B, Speybroeck N, Deboosere P. Monitoring health inequalities when the socio-economic composition changes: are the slope and relative indices of inequality appropriate? Results of a simulation study. BMC Public Health 2019; 19: 662. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6980-1.

Ro A, Geronimus A, Bound J, Griffith D, Gee G. Educational gradients in five Asian immigrant populations: do country of origin, duration and generational status moderate the education-health relationship? Prev Med Rep. 2016;4:338–43.

Ross CE, Wu CL. The links between education and health. Am Soc Rev. 1995;60(5):719–45.

Shiels MS, Chernyavskiy P, Anderson WF, Best AF, Haozous EA. Diverging trends in premature mortality in the U.S. by sex, race, and ethnicity in the 21st century. Lancet. 2017;389:1043–54.

Tsou MT. Association of Education, health behaviors, concerns, and knowledge with metabolic syndrome among urban elderly in one medical Center in Taiwan. Int J Gerontology. 2017;11(3:138–43.

Wheaton B. Stress, personal coping resources, and psychiatric symptoms: an investigation of interactive models. J Health Soc Behav. 1983;24(3):208–29.

Williams DR, Collins C. US socioeconomic and racial differences in health: patterns and explanations. Ann Rev Soc. 1995;21:349–86.

Zajacova A, Lawrence EM. The relationship between education and health: reducing disparities through a contextual approach. Ann Rev Pub Health. 2018;39:273–89.

Zimmerman EB, Woolf SH. Understanding the relationship between education and health. Discussion Paper, Inst Med. Washington DC; 2014. https://nam.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/BPH-UnderstandingTheRelationship1.pdf.

Zhong H. An over time analysis on the mechanisms behind the education–health gradients in China. China Econ Rev. 2015;34(C):135–49.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Archives of Public Health

Thông tin tác giả