Eng 201
Professor Poe
Research Paper- Final
How much would You Think Education Really Affects Your Health and the Economy?
The issue that interests me is how education or if education does in any aspect influence health and the economy. Believe it or not education affects our health and economy in more ways than you would even imagine. Lower levels of education are correlated with poor health and higher levels of education are correlated with better health. After highly researching this issue, I came across unexpected statistics and figures on how education affects both our health and the economy, as well as highly debated issues on the subject. According to the National Longitudal Mortality Study, one more year of education increases life expectancy by 0.18 years with a three percent discount or by 0.6 years without any discounting. If you assume that a year of health is worth seventy five thousand dollars, this converts to about thirteen thousand five hundred to forty four thousand dollars in current value.(Cutler 5) When I learned that low education can directly take years off of your life I was shocked and I immediately drew interest in the matter. People more educated report in having lower morbidity from the most common diseases, such as heart conditions, cholesterol, emphysema, diabetes, asthma attacks, ulcers, and stroke hypertension (Cutler 5). More highly educated people also are shown to make better decisions regarding their health, such as not to smoke and they make better decisions during pregnancy. Before researching this topic, I never would have made the connection between less smoking and higher education. As for the economy, researchers have shown how people having greater amounts of schooling improve healthcare costs and how high school dropouts highly hurt taxpayers and the economy. The effects of education on health and the economy are detrimental to both society and individuals.
Some of the factors in a person’s health said to be affected by education, I never would have thought of or even imagined to be a factor. According to Elizabeth Goodman, MD, of Brandeis University in Watltham, Massachusetts, new research reveals that about one- third of obesity and depression amongst American teenagers can be accredited to growing up in low- income families or having parents with low education levels (Goodman 1). At first, this seems like a normal outcome. What I would think leads to most depression is a person’s psychological well being, a personal experience or many personal experiences, and/or stress. It would make sense, however, that one third of depression comes from growing up in low income families or in families with low parental education. This is because the family circumstances would make it harder for these teenagers to be successful than for those in more well off families, which also contributes to their psychological well being. When you do not feel a sense of self worth, success or accomplishment, it is hard to be happy with yourself, therefore leading to psychological and physical harm, such as obesity and depression. I think many of us can relate to this. I know when I do not do well in my studies, I feel like I have less of a self worth for that time being.
A sample of fifteen thousand adolescents was surveyed as a part of the National Longitudal Study of Adolescent Health, on the topic of how household income and parental education is linked to rates of depression and obesity. Researchers evaluated occurrences of depression by using a standard measure of depression, and obesity rates by the teenager’s body mass index, a measure of weight relative to height. In this study, it was found that, “lower family income accounted for twenty six percent of depression and thirty two percent of obesity among teens. Lower parental education was linked to forty percent of depression and thirty percent of obesity (Goodman 1).” I never would have imagined that low education affects such factors as obesity and depression more than low income. It is obvious a low income could directly affect these factors but education was a little more obscure to me at first. I thought low income was the cause for many problems in the world, but in fact low levels of education lie even deeper. These results suggest that socioeconomic factors might work in unique ways and different methods to affect common health risks facing teens. The researchers say, “For example, education’s effect may relate more to differences in coping styles and other interpersonal skills, such as communication, whereas income’s effect may be more strongly associated with material goods and services (Goodman 1).” So as many think that income is the main source of health problems because health care cannot be afforded, education in fact does affect health more than income does. People with higher education know how to deal with problems such as stress better than those less educated, preventing distress to the body and mind.
One of the reasons that higher education leads to higher levels of health is that those with a higher education tend to make better decisions than those with a lower level of education. I did not realize that it is statistically proven that those who are less educated smoke more than those more educated. You always see people of high power and college students smoking making you think that smoking is not really related to your level of education. Also, buying cigarettes is very expensive so you would think that those with more money can smoke more. However, the numbers prove these thoughts wrong. According to the Center for Development of Health, smoking is the highest source of preventable disease and death in the United States. The number of people who smoked cigarettes drastically went down in the years between 1974 and1995, but the rate at which this declined differed greatly for people of different levels of education. By the year 1995, those who did not complete high school were more than twice as likely to smoke as those with at least a college degree (Center for the Advancement of Health 1). Also, those with low education are more likely to make poor decisions during pregnancy leading to problems during pregnancy. According to the Center for Development for Health, women that don’t even have a high school diploma are nearly ten times more likely to smoke during pregnancy. Low birth weight and infant mortality are more common to children born to less educated mothers (Center for the Advancement of Health 1). Education does a lot for a person’s well being and health; just having a better education helps you to make better decisions for yourself and those you care about. You are more knowledgeable about common things that cause can cause harm to your health and are able to avoid or choose not to do them, while those not educated may not be aware that certain things they do are in fact causing harm to themselves.
In an interview with Dana P. Goldman, Ph.D., who is the director of health economics at RAND in Santa Monica, California, and an adjunct associate professor in the David Geffen School of Medicine and the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, she speaks about the pathways that are identified linking education to health. She says, “Michael McGinnis and his colleagues identified five factors that are known to affect health and have estimated the magnitude of the impact of each on premature mortality” (Goldman 3). One of the five factors is behavior, which accounts for about forty percent of premature mortality. Another is social circumstances, which account for approximately fifteen percent; deficiencies in medical care account for about ten percent, and environmental exposures, about five percent. Health behaviors, including behaviors like smoking, physical inactivity, and an assortment of other behaviors that affect health are discussed. For example, the decrease in smoking has been more drastic in college educated individuals than for those with less education. Because of this, a seen relationship between education and lung cancer rates is developing, with increases for those with less education. When it comes to medical care deficiencies, people less educated receive poorer qualities of care (Goldman 3). They have less medical coverage and usually are not able to stand up for themselves or ask certain questions because they feel inferior to those working at the hospital.
Education can supply access to many things in a perspective of the social environment and social circumstances. This access includes higher professional status, better control over your life, and increased social support. All of this could affect the health care a person receives and the choices they decide to make. Education also helps to avoid stress altogether or cope with it better when it does come (Goldman 3). I agree completely with this because, with more education, you can make much more rational decisions to deal with whatever you are facing. In terms of environmental exposures, individuals less educated are more likely to have more hazardous jobs, and to live in locations where they are exposed to toxins and pathogens because they have less money. Education plays a role in occupation and therefore income (Goldman 3).
In the book, The Benefits of Learning, Cathie Hammond writes about an account of a woman named Beryl, who did not receive a high education. She enjoyed needlework so she worked in a sewing factory after leaving school. This is an example of the sleeper effect, which is an outcome of education that lasts over years. Later she worked as a cleaner in an old people’s home. Beryl took an early retirement at the age of fifty one because, as she says, “I went to see the doctor and things, and they just said you know, like, ‘You can’t go to work.’ So that was it.” Beryl was not involved in the decision to stop working nor did she discuss or debate the decision, but the choice had a huge impact on her life. Perhaps if Beryl had received a higher education, she may have been more confident, had more control over her life, felt on a more equal level with the doctor, and could have made a more active role in deciding whether or not to continue with her work. Even if the outcome was the same, her knowing she had impact may have helped her to deal with the consequences better. Beryl became depressed and felt very low. Then Beryl enrolled in college and became more confident, was happy with herself because she was learning new things, began going to the gym, felt more of a social support system, and learned to stand up for herself (Hammond 63-64). This account shows how much education does really help a person’s health and well being. By becoming more knowledgeable, a person therefore develops a sense of self worth and realizes they are on the same level as everyone else. They take more control of their lives and grow physically and mentally.
Besides helping our health, obtaining higher levels of education greatly improves the economy. Education is the key to improving a state’s economy and reaching every other desirable goal. A continuous amount of data is constantly surfacing showing the specific ways in which education is so valuable. Finishing high school does more for a single person than I could have even imagined. Researchers found, in a new study of the effects of education on health care costs, that Oklahoma would save one hundred thirty eight million dollars in health costs in a lifetime if every student in the class of 2005 to 2006 graduated from high school (Pearson 2). If this rate continued year after year, similar savings would amount each year. This is a large amount of money and with the shape that the economy is in right now, saving this money would enormously help the economy, society, and individuals. The Alliance for Excellent Education, which is a policy, research and support organization, has plans of improving graduation rates and desire to search for further education. The research from this organization shows that the higher level of education that is obtained improves, “a student’s future income, occupational status, and social prestige, all of which of contributes to improved individual health,” according to a statement from the Alliance (Pearson 2). People with higher education are able to attain more insurance coverage. The uninsured receive less medical care leading to poorer health outcomes. Also, those less educated have higher chances of getting stuck with more dangerous jobs. They do not have the choices of those who are more educated.
State leaders have very good reason to be concerned about increasing health care costs. Historically, education has been the area that states have spent more on than any other budget. However, beginning in 2003, health care costs began to catch up to education. In 2006, according to several surveys, health care spending accounted for around a third of state expenditures. If these costs continue to go up and there is no extreme change, there is a high chance that they will continue to outpace many states economic growth. A better educated population is the key to controlling health care costs. According to Muennig, “based on Medicaid costs and expenditures for uninsured care, a high school graduate saves a state thirteen thousand seven hundred and six thousand dollars over his or her lifetime (Pearson 2).” Think about how much money the economy could save if more people obtained higher levels of schooling. Education is the key source to improving all other factors involved in improving health and the economy. If a person’s education improves, higher self esteem, better life choices, improved economy and environment, etc. all come along with it. On the other hand, the 1.2 million students that were expected to drop out in the year 2007, cost taxpayers a collective seventeen billion dollars over their lifetimes in healthcare costs (Pearson 2).
Many researchers have found and shown how lower education does in fact directly negatively affect your health and the economy and how higher education positively affects your health and the economy. However, there are many other contradictory studies that say that education does not directly affect health and the economy. One of the studies for the center of advancement for health says that the mortality rate for men from chronic diseases with less than twelve years of education was two and a half times the rate for more educated men, and the mortality rate for women with less than twelve years of education was a little over two times the rate as more educated women. Also, the rates for motor vehicle deaths are much higher for those who graduated high school than for those with at least some college education. However, Bhashkar Mazumder replicated and extended the results from Lleras-Muney by checking for other factors and re-examined the effects of education on mortality. He found that the effects are not large when including state specific time trends, causing doubt on whether or not there truly was a causal effect. His results show that the estimates are much smaller than previously found. To further examine the causal effects, he looked at an individual level data on health outcomes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation. When he looked at results that show which specific health conditions were affected by education improvements, the results did not show a rational or consistent story of how education improves health. According to this study, only a small fraction of health conditions are affected by education, and many of those affected are conditions like sight and hearing. Therefore economic theories do not appear appropriate or significant. Also the effects among many chronic diseases are missing (Mazumder 3-4). What is being said is that there are other factors during certain time periods that could be the reason for the improvement in mortality rates such as technology for cleaner water or the creation of food programs to improve mal-nutrition. Both sides to this argument have valid points and conclusions. The question is does education actually affect health and the economy or is it plainly due to other factors?
I believe that education does in fact affect people’s health and the economy, and it is not just due to other factors. There are many studies that blatantly show education to be a controlling and unique predictor of health and the economy. Despite research and analysis of surveys done to try to disprove this, there is so much evidence proving the effects of education on health and the economy and so many points that are just common sense. Better health is associated with higher education, whether talking about mortality rates or self reports of health status. Also people with higher education are shown to make better decisions. A study showed that women with education less than a high school diploma are almost ten times as likely to smoke during pregnancy as those with a higher education. Researchers have done studies to show how higher education dramatically helps the economy. For example, it was estimated that Oklahoma would save one hundred and thirty eight million dollars in lifetime health costs if every student in the class of 2005-2006 graduated high school. The 1.2 million students expected to dropout will cost taxpayers seventeen billion dollars in health care costs over their lifetime (Pearson 2-3). By simply looking at the data and statistics, it can plainly be seen that higher levels of education do in fact correlate with better health and a better economy.
Works Cited
Cultler, David, and Lleras- Muney, Adriana. “Education and Health: Evaluating Theories and Evidence.” GoogleScholar. 2005 National Poverty Center. 26 October 2008
Goodman,E., “Family Status Affects Teen Health Risks.” Web MD 30 October 2003: 6,7. 26 October 2008.
Marmot, Michael. “Facts of Life” Center for the Advancement for Health. 2002 December. Center for the Advancement of Health. 28 October 2008
Mazumder, Bhashkar. “Does education improve health? A reexamination of the evidence from compulsory schooling laws.” ChicagoFed. 2008. Economic Perspectives. 30 October 2008
Pearson, Janet. “Good Education= Healthy Wealthy and Wise.” EsbcoHost. 27 January 2007 Tulsa World (UK). 28 October 2008
Schuller, Tom, John Preston, Cathie Hammond, and John Bynner. The Benefits of Learning: The impact of education on health, family, and social capital. London: Routledge, 2004.
