Primary Submission Category: Non-health institutions (business, political, education systems)
Race- and Gender-Specific Educational Trajectories and Cardiometabolic Health
Authors: Kelsey Shaulis,
Presenting Author: Kelsey Shaulis*
Educational attainment is positively linked to physical and mental health outcomes throughout adulthood. Despite a large body of evidence supporting the strong linear relationship between educational attainment and health, inconsistencies in this relationship have emerged throughout levels of sub-baccalaureate education. For midlife and aging adults in the U.S., the postsecondary education landscape was expanding rapidly as they graduated high school, and the educational requirements for expected lifestyles were beginning to rise throughout their young adulthood. As a result, starting a postsecondary education “off-track” or returning to education in later adulthood was not uncommon. The additional costs, financial and social, of returning to education in adulthood combined with a shorter period to accrue the socioeconomic benefits of additional education, may inhibit the strength of the relationship between the degree attained and midlife health outcomes. Using longitudinal data from High School & Beyond (N ≈ 8,650), the current study identifies age-based, race- and gender-specific trajectories through postsecondary education that extend from high school through midlife. Trajectories are established within highest degree level and include sub-baccalaureate credentials such as certificates and associate degrees. The resulting educational trajectories are used to explore the relationship between varying educational pathways and cardiometabolic health outcomes (obesity, hypertension, and diabetes) in midlife. Controls for key life course events (e.g., marriage and/or marriage dissolution before highest degree, childbirth before highest degree, military service prior to age 25, spells of unemployment, and labor market changes to expected occupations) are included.