Unexpected Results from a Scientific Study: People with Higher Education Live Longer

The scientific journal PLOS ONE recently published a scientific study that elaborated the following results: mortality attributable to low levels of education in the USA. In other words, people who obtain higher education live longer than the ones who don’t. There is another important finding from this study: failure to obtain a higher degree can be equally unfavorable to one’s life as smoking and obesity. Bestessays.com presented this interesting analysis based on their own experiences in the education industry.

The study was based on data from the American Community Study and the National Health Interview Survey, conducted from 1986 to 2004. The researchers processed data of more than one million people aged from 25 to 85. The study linked the data from the National Health Interview Survey to the prospective mortality rates available in the Linked Mortality File, as well as information from death certificates available through the National Death Index.

Professor Patrick M. Krueger, one of the authors of the study, is part of the teaching staff in the Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado – Denver. According to his findings, education is an important factor to compare to mortality, since it stays the same over time – similarly to income, occupation, wealth, and other measures of socioeconomic status.

Annual income is not a stable factor that can be measured with clear results. Although most people support the accessibility of education, the changes in income and wealth distribution, which result from such policies, are rather controversial.

Virginia Chang, another contributor to the study, is an associate professor of public health at New York University. According to her opinion, a person’s education affects his/her life in multiple ways, which are often neglected by researchers. “(It) also affects your social network, your access to information, your ability to understand information. People with higher education feel like they have more agency and self-efficacy; they have more cognitive skills to manage any sort of complicated situation, to navigate the health care system; they have more social support,” – Chang explained.

The Findings

The study was organized in three categories that separated the mortality data according to levels of education. The first category compared the mortality rates between people with high-school degree and people who did not obtain such degree. In the second category, people with a baccalaureate degree were paired with those who went through some level of college education. Finally, people with a BA degree were compared to those who have anything less than such degree.

To understand how education affected mortality, the researchers compared the factors for people born in 1925, 1935, and 1945. One of the most impressive results was the fact that the failure to obtain a high-school degree affected the person’s mortality prospects to an extent comparable to smoking.

Despite the government’s policies to make higher education more accessible than ever, the levels of low education in the U.S. are quite high. More than 10% of the citizens aged from 25 to 34 do not hold a high-school degree. More than 25% of the people in this target group have some level of college education, but do not hold a BA degree.

According to the findings of the study, “… over 145,000 lives could be saved if all of the adults aged 25 to 85 who don’t have a high school degree, went on to get a high school degree or equivalent. That alone accounts for about 10% of all deaths in the U.S. each year,” – Krueger explained.

Will the Findings from the Study Change Something?

This study identified education as an important factor that influences mortality rates in the U.S. “In public health policy, we often focus on changing health behaviors such as diet, smoking, and drinking. Education – which is a more fundamental, upstream driver of health behaviors and disparities – should also be a key element of U.S. health policy,” – said Virginia Chang.

Here is one of the most important findings the team of researchers revealed: more than 110,000 deaths could have been prevented in 2010 if the students who obtained some level of college education without graduating had earned their BA degrees. As it turns out, all that effort to attend classes, master exams and find the right writing service has a greater purpose than most students anticipate.

However, the findings of this study cannot be taken for granted. The team of researchers said that the number of deaths that can be attributed to low education could have been affected by confounding variables. The biggest problem with the results of this study is the fact that no geographical areas were taken into consideration. In addition, the researchers did not take the quality of education as a factor.

The findings of the study clearly distinguish a larger number of deaths related to lack of higher education in 1945 than in 1925. In addition, the researchers realized that people who are less likely to obtain a higher degree gain greater benefits from a high school or college degree when compared to those who are already likely to obtain such level of education.

Regardless of their implications, the results of this study are undoubtedly important at an international level. According to Patrick Krueger, “the results suggest that policies and interventions that improve educational attainment could substantially improve survival in the U.S. population, especially given widening educational disparities.”

The researchers believe that this study should influence the future of U.S. public health and education policies. There is a solid prove that persistent policies for advancement of educational levels could lower the mortality rates among U.S. population.

Chang sums up the effects these findings should result with: “Improving education would impact health widely, by resulting in healthier behaviors, higher incomes, stronger cognitive development, and more vibrant social connects and psychosocial resources.”

The U.S. government has always been emphasizing the importance of education for the sake of economic opportunities, but it hasn’t taken the health benefits into consideration.

[Image: Georgia Tech/Facebook]