Two- and Four-Year Postsecondary Schooling and Young Adult Health

• In Event: 182 - Regular Session. Health and Well-being: Contextual Effects

Abstract

Those with higher levels of education and more years of schooling are healthier than individuals with lower amounts of education (Mirowsky and Ross 2003). Even controlling for income, researchers find health benefits for individuals with higher education, suggesting that education itself has an effect on health beyond its economic benefits (Cutler and Lleras-Muney 2010; Mirowsky and Ross 1998). Recent research shows that the effect of education on health is actually increasing for contemporary cohorts, with those from younger generations showing the strongest associations between higher education and better health (Lynch; Liu & Hummer). However this is one of the least researched age groups with regard to education and health—with most research focusing on mid-life or late-life health. Additionally, despite the well-established relationship between higher education and better health, the actual connection between the two is not well understood beyond knowing that years of schooling and degree earned is related to later life health disparities. I aim to explore the education/health relationship by using detailed measures of educational stratification of postsecondary enrollment—including separating 2- and 4- year enrollment—for young adults and their subsequent self-reported health.

Author

• Melissa Humphries, University of Texas-Austin