New Issue Brief Shows How Greatly Education Affects Health

September 18, 2009 – An issue brief recently released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) shows that a large body of evidence strongly links education with health, even when other factors like income are taken into account.  According to the brief, research shows that people with more education are likely to practice health-promoting behaviors and, therefore, live longer and experience better health outcomes. 

The brief also reveals that children of more-educated parents also experience better health and other social advantages.  On the other hand, parents with lower educational attainment face greater barriers to creating healthy home environments and modeling healthy behaviors for their children.  And the quality of children’s health and development consequently influences health later in life.  In addition, children with less-educated parents face more obstacles to being successful in school and are less likely to receive college degrees. 

The brief reveals, for instance, that college graduates can expect to live at least five years longer than individuals who have not finished high school and that, children whose parents have not finished high school are more than six times as likely to be in poor or fair health as children of college graduates. 

The brief’s reference to education pertains specifically to “educational attainment,”  or the years or level of overall school a person has, rather than instruction on specific health topics like diet or exercise.  According to the brief, low education attainment is a major problem in this country.  In the U.S., overall, nearly 16 percent of adults ages 25 years and older have not completed high school, 30 percent have no schooling beyond high school, 27 percent have attended but not completed college, and 28 percent are college graduates.  Moreover, the U.S. is the only industrialized nation where young people currently are less likely than members of their parents’ generation to be high-school graduates. 

The brief looks at three major interrelated pathways through which educational attainment is linked with health: health knowledge and behaviors; employment and income; and social and psychological factors.  For instance, education can increase people’s knowledge and cognitive skills, enabling them to make better-informed choices among health-related options for themselves and their families.  In addition, greater educational attainment is associated with health-promoting behaviors such as increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and refraining from excessive consumption of alcohol and from smoking. 

Educational attainment is also linked with the provision of knowledge and skills necessary for better employment, which, in turn, can shape health in many ways by providing financial stability and jobs with less occupational hazards, better health benefits, and the provision of sick leave.  Educational attainment is also linked with social and psychological factors including an improved sense of control, social standing, and social support, all of which can lead to better health.    

To access the brief, click here.

Source: Issue Brief 6: Education and Health, September 2009, RWJF.