We may receive compensation when you click on product links from our partners. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.
Last Updated on October 26, 2023
Education typically leads to jobs that pay higher wages and offer health-promoting benefits such as
The correlation between years of schooling and self-reported health is strong, but causality runs both ways. This article uses instrumental variable estimation to uncover the mechanisms behind this association.
Better Health
Many studies examining the link between education and health outcomes have found that educational attainment, measured primarily on years of schooling or completed credentials, is associated with better health. These studies are essential for policymakers and practitioners who seek to understand how to improve health and well-being through education.
The evidence shows that higher levels of education are associated with better health, including longer lifespans. These benefits have been attributed to several mechanisms.
For example, people with more education are less likely to smoke or have an unhealthy diet. They are also more likely to be employed in jobs that provide access to health
Better Information
People with
These studies – rooted in different theoretical perspectives, including sdoh. Human Capital Theory (HCT), Frontiers of Cognitive Training (FCT), and the Credentialing Perspective – find a positive effect on health associated with education. They also find the effect robust to different education measures and various methods for controlling other influences.
With policymakers and the public increasingly focused on the poor health and shorter lifespans of Americans with lower levels of education, we need a deeper understanding of how the education-health relationship works. This research can help identify effective intervention points to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities. And it can show us how a society that invests in its people is healthier, happier, and more prosperous.
Better Employment
While overall healthcare quality has improved with increased education in many countries, the gap between those with little or no schooling has widened. Given that people with less education suffer poorer health than those with more, a thorough understanding of the relationship between health and education is essential for improving public health policies and programs.
In addition to exposing individuals to better information, education can improve access to employment and financial resources, including healthcare coverage. These benefits can reduce the disease burden on families who struggle to provide adequate nutrition and health care for their children while working full-time.
A growing number of studies are examining how education directly affects health using innovative approaches like natural experiments and twin designs to test whether and how educational attainment impacts health. These causal analyses can help guide recommendations for effective educational and health policies and programs. However, to truly understand the impact of education on health outcomes, future research needs to move beyond these individual-focused analyses and incorporate a life course perspective that considers how education interacts with factors that influence health and educational achievement throughout the lifespan.
Less Socioeconomic Disadvantage
A significant part of education’s effect on health flows through providing access to economic resources and social support. For example, adults with more schooling are less likely to experience unemployment or poverty and may have greater access to health
Much prior research on education and health has focused on attainment, measured in completed years of schooling or earned credentials. But attainment is just one endpoint of an ongoing process that involves various individual, familial, and community influences. More research should explore educational processes at earlier stages of the life course to understand the full extent of their impact on health outcomes.
In addition, more research should examine the underlying causes of state differences in education-health outcomes. Understanding how policies and conditions in a single state influence the degree to which education matters for health can help identify effective intervention points to improve population health and reduce education-health disparities.
