Conditional Health-Related Benefits of Higher Education: An Assessment of Compensatory versus Accumulative Mechanisms

Citation

Bauldry, Shawn (2014). Conditional Health-Related Benefits of Higher Education: An Assessment of Compensatory versus Accumulative Mechanisms. Social Science & Medicine. vol. 111C pp. 94-100 , PMCID: PMC4057096

Abstract

A college degree is associated with a range of health-related benefits, but the effects of higher education are known to vary across different population subgroups. Competing theories have been proposed for whether people from more or less advantaged backgrounds or circumstances will gain greater health-related benefits from a college degree. This study draws on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and recently developed models for analyzing heterogeneous treatment effects to examine how the effect of obtaining a college degree on the self-rated health of young adults varies across the likelihood of obtaining a college degree, a summary measure of advantage/disadvantage. Results indicate that a college degree has a greater effect on self-rated health for people from advantaged backgrounds. This finding differs from two recent studies, and possible reasons for the contrasting findings are discussed.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.socscimed.2014.04.005

Keyword(s)

higher education

Reference Type

Journal Article

Journal Title

Social Science & Medicine

Author(s)

Bauldry, Shawn

Year Published

2014

Volume Number

111C

Pages

94-100

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.04.005

PMCID

PMC4057096

NIHMSID

NIHMS585215

Reference ID

4917