Understanding differences in health behaviors by education

Abstract

Using a variety of data sets from two countries, we examine possible explanations for the relationship between education and health behaviors, known as the education gradient. We show that income, health insurance, and family background can account for about 30 percent of the gradient. Knowledge and measures of cognitive ability explain an additional 30 percent. Social networks account for another 10 percent. Our proxies for discounting, risk aversion, or the value of future do not account for any of the education gradient, and neither do personality factors such as a sense of control of oneself or over one's life.

Figure 1. Effect of education on various health behaviors, by single year of schooling

Note: Marginal effects from logit regressions on education, controlling for race and gender. The shaded areas are 95% confidence intervals for each coefficient. Exact years of education are not available in all surveys and were imputed as the middle of the education category. Years of education is top coded as 17.

Figure 2. Ratio of future to current satisfaction, by education

Note: Data are from the MIDUS survey.