Citation
Lawrence, Elizabeth Marie (2015). Does education equalize or reproduce inequality? Effects of college degrees on health behaviors.
Abstract
Among U.S. adults, college degree earners live much healthier lives than those with less education, but we know little about why. This dissertation examines how, why, and for whom college degrees influence health behaviors, such as smoking, diet, exercising, maintaining of healthy weight status, and drinking. Theories posit that college degrees may exhibit: "transformative" effects if college degrees influence health behaviors independent of selection, "sorting" effects if health behavior advantages are due to selection, "conditional reproduction" if groups of historical advantage receive the greatest benefits, or "conditional equalizing" if groups of historical disadvantage have greater benefits. Three research questions characterize the study's objectives: (1) Does education improve health behaviors or is the association spurious? (2) Does education have the same benefits for the health behaviors of all social groups? (3) If education does improve health behaviors, how does it do so? The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) provides longitudinal data on education and health behaviors across adolescence and young adulthood for a cohort of individuals born 1977-1984. The methods include propensity score approaches to estimate causal effects and test for heterogeneity. This study affirms multiple functions of education: it sorts individuals, improves well-being, and stratifies the population into classes. Very little evidence supports the assertion that benefits of college degrees are conditional. College degrees improve health behaviors for all college graduates, leaving those without degrees lagging behind. A sociological understanding of why social groups engage in different behaviors can contribute to efforts in reducing social inequality and improving population health.
URL
http://gradworks.umi.com/37/21/3721841.htmlKeyword(s)
Social sciences Health behaviors Life course Race/ethnicity Socioeconomic status United states Sociology Demography 0938:Demography 0626:Sociology
Notes
Copyright - Copyright ProQuest Dissertations Publishing 2015 Last updated - 2015-10-17 First page - n/a
Reference Type
Thesis/Dissertation
Book Title
Sociology
Author(s)
Lawrence, Elizabeth Marie
Series Author(s)
Mollborn, Stefanie Pampel Fred
Year Published
2015
Volume Number
3721841
Pages
196
Publisher
University of Colorado at Boulder
City of Publication
Ann Arbor
ISSN/ISBN
9781339036199
DOI
9781339036199
Reference ID
6994
