Diverging pathways: Using a lifecourse perspective to assess the cumulative effects of education on physical and mental health.

Abstract

Current research documents the consistent positive relationship between educational attainment and a variety of health outcomes. For example, individuals with higher levels of educational attainment report fewer physical limitations and lower rates of depressive symptomology. Yet, most of this research measures education in terms of the quantity of schooling completed, disregarding the underlying mechanisms that place individuals on divergent academic trajectories, such as educational inequality and access to educational opportunities. However, these early experiences may ultimately shape long-term health status. To address this gap in the literature, I develop an index of advantage that quantifies the number of advantages individuals accumulate throughout their education, including such factors as school resources, educational aspirations, and coursework taken. A total of 13 items covering three domains (individual, family, and school) are included in the index, with each item weighted by its independent effect on college attainment. I use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), a nationally representative sample of young men and women who were 14-21 years old in 1979, restricting the sample to civilian respondents self-reporting as black, Hispanic, or white, and for whom data was collected for work limitations and/or depressive symptomology on at least one time point, to test whether or not (1) increasing number of educational advantages as well as educational attainment is related to physical and mental health over time, and (2) educational advantages and educational attainment result in diverging health trajectories between respondents with high versus low educational advantages, and between respondents with high versus low educational attainment. The results suggests that the index is associated with a widening disparity over time in predicted probabilities of work limitations and the level of depressive symptomology between respondents in the 10<super>th</super> and 90<super>th</super> percentiles on the index of advantage. Similar results were found between respondents with a college education versus those with less than a high school education. Our results point to a need for more extensive examination of the educational system as a potential mechanism of existing health disparities as well as a viable area for future research and policy intervention.