Demographic Differentials in Health Returns to College Degree Attainment and Selectivity

• In Event: 56.076 - High School and Beyond: Effects of Equality and Inequality of Educational Opportunity at Midlife

Abstract

Objective and Significance
The health benefits associated with educational attainment have been well established (Cutler & Lleras-Muney, 2006; Lleras-Muney, 2005; Montez, Hummer, & Hayward, 2012). Evidence also suggests that educational quality is associated with health (Cutler & Lleras-Muney, 2006; Fletcher & Frisvold, 2014; Frisvold & Golberstein, 2011; MacInnis, 2009) . What is not yet well understood is how relationships between health outcomes and the quantity and quality of education vary across demographic groups. Given persistent and widening disparities in educational attainment and health outcomes like mortality (Hummer & Hernandez, 2013), it is important to understand whether high quality education among groups that are less likely to attend college or attend a selective college may ameliorate health disparities.
Theoretical framework
Pursuit of higher education is influenced by cultural and social norms and the mechanisms that influence whether someone attends college and the type of college they attend vary by social background. We draw from the negative selection hypothesis posited by Brand and Xie (2010) which suggests that individuals who are least likely to obtain a college degree will benefit the most from degree attainment with respect to health benefits. We hypothesize that non-whites, women, and those with low childhood socioeconomic status will receive the greatest health returns to college degree attainment and selectivity among a nationally representative longitudinal sample.
Data and Methods
High School and Beyond is a nationally representative longitudinal study of American youth conducted by the National Opinion Research Center on behalf of the National Center for Education Statistics. Data were initially collected from 30,030 sophomores and 28,240 seniors in 1,020 American high schools. In 1980, students completed an in-school survey which included questions about family background and demographic characteristics (including race and sex). The 1980 student survey was supplemented with teacher and parent surveys. A random sample of the sophomores and seniors were included in longitudinal follow-up surveys where sophomores were re-interviewed in 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1992 and seniors were re-interviewed in 1982, 1984, and 1986. Survey data were supplemented with secondary transcripts for sophomores and post-secondary transcripts for both sophomores and seniors. In 2014-2015 sophomores and seniors who were not lost to follow-up were re-interviewed in a new round of telephone, mail and online surveys and data on educational attainment, family circumstances, health, functional limitations, and labor force activities were gathered.
We will examine how college degree attainment and college selectivity varies demographically. We will separately estimate the effect of college degree attainment and college selectivity on health in adulthood (ages fifties and sixties) among the High School and Beyond sample and will examine how those relationships vary by race, sex and childhood socioeconomic status. We also plan to examine the interactions between race, gender, and socioeconomic status to determine whether one demographic moderates the other.
Results
The results will be complete by the 2017 AERA annual meeting.

Author

• John R. Warren, University of Minnesota