The Education Effect on Population Health: A Reassessment

Demographic research frequently reports consistent and significant associations between formal educational attainment and a range of health risks such as smoking, drug abuse, and accidents, as well as the contraction of many diseases, and health outcomes such as mortality—almost all indicating the s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Population and development review Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 307 - 332
Main Authors:	Baker, David P., Leon, Juan, Smith Greenaway, Emily G., Collins, John, Movit, Marcela
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2011 Wiley Subscription Services The Population Council, Inc
Series:	Population and Development Review
Subjects:	Accidents Adult education Causal analysis Causality Clinical outcomes Cognition Demographic indicators Demographics Demography Disease - economics Disease - ethnology Disease - history Disease - psychology Drug Abuse Education Educational Attainment Educational Status Epidemiology Formal education Health Health behavior Health Education Health inequality Health Problems Health risks Higher education History, 20th Century History, 21st Century Level of education Methodology (Data Collection) Mortality Mortality - ethnology Mortality - history Mortality Rates Population Dynamics - history Population education Population health Public health Public Health - economics Public Health - education Public Health - history Public Health - legislation & jurisprudence Reviews Risk assessment Smoking Sociodemographic Factors Socioeconomic status
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Summary:	Demographic research frequently reports consistent and significant associations between formal educational attainment and a range of health risks such as smoking, drug abuse, and accidents, as well as the contraction of many diseases, and health outcomes such as mortality—almost all indicating the same conclusion: better-educated individuals are healthier and live longer. Despite the substantial reporting of a robust education effect, there is inadequate appreciation of its independent influence and role as a causal agent. To address the effect of education on health in general, three contributions are provided: 1) a macro-level summary of the dimensions of the worldwide educational revolution and a reassessment of its causal role in the health of individuals and in the demographic health transition are carried out; 2) a meta-analysis of methodologically sophisticated studies of the effect of educational attainment on all-cause mortality is conducted to establish the independence and robustness of the education effect on health; and 3) a schoolingcognition hypothesis about the influence of education as a powerful determinant of health is developed in light of new multidisciplinary cognitive research.
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-ZVLMVBPB-V istex:C9ED74F357BAA7D4F879970F2BDB746CE39CB074 ArticleID:PADR412 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0098-7921 1728-4457
DOI:	10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00412.x