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. 2011;37(2):307-32.
doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00412.x.

The education effect on population health: a reassessment

David P Baker  1 , Juan Leon, Emily G Smith Greenaway, John Collins, Marcela Movit
Affiliations

The education effect on population health: a reassessment

David P Baker et al. Popul Dev Rev. 2011.

Abstract

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 schooling-cognition hypothesis about the influence of education as a powerful determinant of health is developed in light of new multidisciplinary cognitive research.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1. Timing of the onset of the first demographic transition and the educational revolution in England and Wales, France, Sweden, and the United States
NOTE: CBR and CDR are weighted based on total population and averaged across countries. The school enrollment rates are from the only historical source of which the authors are aware. Although the limited nature of historical data makes it difficult to judge their reliability, these data are widely used for historical education analysis. SOURCE: For birth and death rates: Human Mortality Database (2009); for school enrollment rates: Arthur Banks Education Statistics Cross-National Time-Series Data Archive (CNTS) Copyright 2008.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

Studies included the meta-analysis

    1. Backlund E, Sorlie PD, Johnson NJ. A comparison of the relationships of education and income with mortality: The National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Social Science and Medicine. 1999;49:1373–1384. - PubMed
    1. Bobak M, Murphy M, Rose R, Marmot M. Determinants of adult mortality in Russia: Estimates from sibling data. Epidemiology. 2003;14(5):603–611. - PubMed
    1. Egeland GM, Tverdal A, Meyer HE, Selmer R. A man’s heart and a wife’s education: A 12-year coronary heart disease mortality follow-up in Norwegian men. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2002;31(4):799–807. - PubMed
    1. Franks P, Gold MR, Fiscella K. Sociodemographics, self-rated health, and mortality in the US. Social Science and Medicine. 2003;56:2505–2514. - PubMed
    1. Gnavi R, et al. Mortality and educational level among diabetic and non-diabetic population in the Turin longitudinal study: A 9-year follow-up. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2004;33(4):864–871. - PubMed

References

    1. Autor DH, Katz LF, Krueger AB. Computing inequality: Have computers changed the labor market? The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 1998;113(4):1169–1213.
    1. Baker D. Schooling all the masses: Reconsidering the origins of American schooling in the postbellum era. Sociology of Education. 1999;72(4):197–215.
    1. Baker D. The educational transformation of work: Toward a new synthesis. Journal of Education and Work. 2009;22(3):163–193.
    1. Baker D, Collins J, Leon J. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education. 4. Vol. 38. Paris: UNESCO; 2009. Risk factor or social vaccine? The historical progression of the role of education in HIV/AIDS infection in sub-Saharan Africa; pp. 467–486.
    1. Baker D, Goesling B, LeTendre G. Socio-economic status, school quality, and national economic development: A cross-national analysis of the ‘Heyneman-Loxley Effect’ on mathematics and science achievement. Comparative Education Review. 2002;46(3):291–312.

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