Some context for understanding the place of the general educational development degree in the relationship between educational attainment and smoking prevalence

Abstract

Introduction: Individuals with a General Educational Development (GED) degree have the highest smoking prevalence of any education level, including high school dropouts without a GED. Yet little research has been reported providing a context for understanding the exception that the GED represents in the otherwise graded inverse relationship between educational attainment and smoking prevalence. We investigated whether the GED may be associated with a general riskier profile that includes but is not limited to increased smoking prevalence.

Method: Data were obtained from three years (2011-2013) of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health ([NSDUH], N=55,940]). Prevalence of risky repertoire indicators (e.g., ever arrested, seldom/never wears a seatbelt), indicators of social instability (e.g., frequent relocations), and risky demographic characteristics (e.g., male gender) were compared among high school dropouts, GED holders, and high school graduates using Rao-Scott chi square goodness-of-fit tests and multiple logistic regression.

Results: Those with GEDs differed significantly between both high school dropouts and high school graduates across 19 of 27 (70.4%) risk indicators. Controlling for risky profile characteristics accounted for a significant but limited (25-30%) proportion of the variance in smoking prevalence across these three education levels.

Conclusion: GED holders exhibit a broad high-risk profile of which smoking is just one component. Future research evaluating additional risk indicators and mechanisms that may underpin this generalized risky repertoire are likely needed for a more complete understanding of GED's place in the important relationship between educational attainment and smoking prevalence.

Keywords: Cigarette smoking; Education; General Educational Development (GED); National Survey on Drug Use and Health; Nationally representative samples; Risky behavior; Young adults.

Figure 1

Prevalence of current cigarette smoking across levels of educational attainment among U.S. adults aged 18-25 years. Bars represent weighted prevalence estimates and error represents standard error (SE) estimates—National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2011-2013. Where superscripts differ, Rao Scott chi-square goodness-of-fit tests indicated significant differences, p < .05.