The persistent educational differences in mortality in the United States represent a troubling and challenging issue. Recent research finds that U.S. adults with less than a high school education had nearly twice the risk of mortality in a five-year follow-up period compared to adults with graduate degrees. This translates into 5-to-7 years of differential life expectancy at age 25 across educational groups, depending on the specific sex and racial/ethnic group in question. The overall goal of our research is to improve the understanding of the linkage between educational attainment and overall and cause-specific adult mortality within the population as a whole and among various subgroups of the adult population. Although the overall relationship between ? educational level and adult mortality risk has been quite well documented since the classic Kitagawa-Hauser (1973) study that used 1960 data, surprisingly little attention has been given to how this relationship varies by race/ethnicity, nativity, gender, age, and cause of death. Further, there are considerable debates regarding the extent to which educational differences in mortality have been widening or narrowing over time, whether or not educational differences in mortality widen or narrow with increasing age, and how other socioeconomic and health variables mediate the relationship between education and mortality risk. We will use data from the National Health Interview Survey-Multiple Cause of Death (NHIS-MCD) linked files to accomplish our goal. The MCD links the National Death Index through 2002 to the 1986 through 2000 cross-sectional waves of the NHIS. These linked data provide information on: (1) nearly 1 million U.S. adults aged 25 and above followed for subsequent survival status for up to 17 years; (2) over 100,000 identified subsequent deaths, with information on both date and cause of death; (3) enough racial/ethnic/nativity, gender, and age diversity to examine very detailed patterns of mortality for specific subgroups of the population; (4) a long enough time period to examine duration and cohort differences in the education mortality relationship. Further, measures of socioeconomic status (including family income, employment status, and occupational status) and information on cigarette smoking and body weight and height are available in these data, which will allow us to better understand how education, at least in part, may work through other socioeconomic variables, cigarette smoking, and weight-for-height to influence adult mortality risks in the United States. The proposed research addresses a topic of immense scientific and public policy ? interest and will help to inform a great deal of other current work that examines educational differences in health changes, health behavior, and disability trajectories throughout the life course. ? ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD053696-03
Application #
7471437
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-HOP-B (02))
Program Officer
Spittel, Michael
Project Start
2006-08-01
Project End
2010-07-31
Budget Start
2008-08-01
Budget End
2010-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$259,099
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Austin
Department
Social Sciences
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
170230239
City
Austin
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
78712
Hayward, Mark D; Hummer, Robert A; Sasson, Isaac (2015) Trends and group differences in the association between educational attainment and U.S. adult mortality: implications for understanding education's causal influence. Soc Sci Med 127:8-18
Masters, Ryan K; Hummer, Robert A; Powers, Daniel A et al. (2014) Long-term trends in adult mortality for U.S. Blacks and Whites: an examination of period- and cohort-based changes. Demography 51:2047-73
Montez, Jennifer Karas; Hayward, Mark D (2014) Cumulative childhood adversity, educational attainment, and active life expectancy among U.S. adults. Demography 51:413-35
Brown, Dustin C; Hummer, Robert A; Hayward, Mark D (2014) The Importance of Spousal Education for the Self-Rated Health of Married Adults in the United States. Popul Res Policy Rev 33:127-151
Rogers, Richard G; Hummer, Robert A; Everett, Bethany G (2013) Educational differentials in US adult mortality: An examination of mediating factors. Soc Sci Res 42:465-81
Hummer, Robert A; Hernandez, Elaine M (2013) The Effect of Educational Attainment on Adult Mortality in the United States. Popul Bull 68:1-16
Everett, Bethany G; Rehkopf, David H; Rogers, Richard G (2013) The Nonlinear Relationship between Education and Mortality: An Examination of Cohort, Race/Ethnic, and Gender Differences. Popul Res Policy Rev 32:
Montez, Jennifer Karas; Hummer, Robert A; Hayward, Mark D (2012) Educational attainment and adult mortality in the United States: a systematic analysis of functional form. Demography 49:315-36
Ross, Catherine E; Masters, Ryan K; Hummer, Robert A (2012) Education and the gender gaps in health and mortality. Demography 49:1157-83
Masters, Ryan K (2012) Uncrossing the U.S black-white mortality crossover: the role of cohort forces in life course mortality risk. Demography 49:773-96

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