The Social Epidemiology of Education: Education’s Influence on Health and Human Development

• In Event: Rethinking the Community of the School: Who Belongs?

Abstract

The extent to which education influences health is well documented in the health and medical literature, yet these relations are often not known or understood in full by the education community: Education is the most significant predictor of lifetime health and disease. The objectives of this paper are to: 1) present a systematic and comprehensive meta-analysis of the ways education is related to health, health disparities and human development, and of current models used to explain these pathways/mechanisms; 2) based on limitations of this current research and theory, integrate interdisciplinary and education literature to introduce a new model to more fully explain the pathways by which education influences lifetime health; and 3) discuss implications for policy, research and practice.

Author

• Jessica Ruglis, McGill University