%0 Journal Article %J American Journal of Preventive Medicine %D Forthcoming %T Education, Income, Wealth, and Discrimination in Black-White Allostatic Load Disparities. %A Cuevas, Adolfo G %A McSorley, Anna-Michelle %A Lyngdoh, Adiammi %A Kaba-Diakité, Fatoumata %A Harris, Adrian %A Rhodes-Bratton, Brennan %A Rouhani, Saba %K Aging %K Discrimination %K Education %K Income %K Wealth %X

INTRODUCTION: Allostatic load (AL) is a significant marker of aging, associated with disease and mortality. Research has elucidated the impact of education and income on AL. However, the roles of wealth and discrimination in contributing to AL and shaping AL disparities remain underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the association between wealth and AL, while also examining the independent contributions of education, income, wealth, and everyday discrimination in shaping AL disparities.

METHODS: Using 2016 data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (N=3,866), this study employed multilinear regression analysis to quantify the association between education and income, wealth (calculated as assets minus debts), and everyday discrimination with AL. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis was conducted to determine the proportion of AL disparities between Black and White participants attributed to education and income, wealth, and everyday discrimination. Analyses were performed in 2023.

RESULTS: Having a college degree or more (b = -0.32; 95% CI: -0.46, -0.17), higher income (b = -0.06; 95% CI: -0.11, -0.01), and greater wealth (b = -0.11; 95% CI: -0.16, -0.07) were linked to reduced AL. Conversely, increased experiences of everyday discrimination were associated with heightened AL (b = 0.07; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.16). Collectively, differences in possessing a college degree or more, wealth, and exposure to discrimination accounted for about 18% of the observed Black-White AL disparities.

CONCLUSIONS: Education, income, wealth, and experiences of discrimination may independently contribute to AL and partially explain Black-White disparities in AL. There is a need to elucidate the underlying mechanisms governing these relationships, particularly wealth, and extend the research to additional social determinants of racial health disparities.

%B American Journal of Preventive Medicine %G eng %R 10.1016/j.amepre.2024.02.021 %0 Journal Article %J medRxiv %D Forthcoming %T Harmonization of Later-Life Cognitive Function Across National Contexts: Results from the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocols (HCAPs). %A Gross, Alden L %A LI, CHIHUA %A Briceño, Emily M %A Rentería, Miguel Arce %A Richard N Jones %A Kenneth M. Langa %A Jennifer J Manly %A Nichols, Emma L %A David R Weir %A Wong, Rebeca %A Berkman, Lisa %A Lee, Jinkook %A Lindsay C Kobayashi %K Cognition %K Education %K harmonization %K HCAP %X

BACKGROUND: The Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP) is an innovative instrument for cross-national comparisons of later-life cognitive function, yet its suitability across diverse populations is unknown. We aimed to harmonize general and domain-specific cognitive scores from HCAPs across six countries, and evaluate precision and criterion validity of the resulting harmonized scores.

METHODS: We statistically harmonized general and domain-specific cognitive function across the six publicly available HCAP partner studies in the United States, England, India, Mexico, China, and South Africa (N=21,141). We used an item banking approach that leveraged common cognitive test items across studies and tests that were unique to studies, as identified by a multidisciplinary expert panel. We generated harmonized factor scores for general and domain- specific cognitive function using serially estimated graded-response item response theory (IRT) models. We evaluated precision of the factor scores using test information plots and criterion validity using age, gender, and educational attainment.

FINDINGS: IRT models of cognitive function in each country fit well. We compared measurement reliability of the harmonized general cognitive function factor across each cohort using test information plots; marginal reliability was high (r> 0·90) for 93% of respondents across six countries. In each country, general cognitive function scores were lower with older ages and higher with greater levels of educational attainment.

INTERPRETATION: We statistically harmonized cognitive function measures across six large, population-based studies of cognitive aging in the US, England, India, Mexico, China, and South Africa. Precision of the estimated scores was excellent. This work provides a foundation for international networks of researchers to make stronger inferences and direct comparisons of cross-national associations of risk factors for cognitive outcomes.

FUNDING: National Institute on Aging (R01 AG070953, R01 AG030153, R01 AG051125, U01 AG058499; U24 AG065182; R01AG051158).

%B medRxiv %G eng %R 10.1101/2023.06.09.23291217 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Aging and Health %D Forthcoming %T Intersecting Early-Life Selection Mechanisms: Socio-Historical Changes in Racially Stratified Effects of Education on Functional Limitations in the United States. %A Bhatta, Tirth R %K Education %K Intersectionality %K later-life health inequalities %K life course %X

OBJECTIVE: Scant research has focused on the role of in shaping intersecting early-life selection mechanisms and their impacts on racially stratified effects of education on health across cohorts.

METHOD: Drawing from the , this study fitted negative binomial regression models to assess the impacts of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) on the relationship between education and functional limitations for Black and White adults across birth cohorts ( = 16,269, born 1931-1959).

RESULTS: The disparities between Black adults and White adults in impacts of childhood SES on both education and functional limitations were more pronounced in recent cohorts. The racial stratification in the impacts of education on functional limitations was documented across cohorts. However, after adjusting for childhood SES, this stratification narrowed considerably in recent cohorts.

DISCUSSION: This study underscores the role of a context in shaping the effects of education on health at the intersection of race and cohort.

%B Journal of Aging and Health %G eng %R 10.1177/08982643221124657 %0 Journal Article %J SocArXiv %D Forthcoming %T Parental Separation and Children’s Genetic Influences on Education across 20th Century Birth Cohorts %A Van Winkle, Zachary %A Baier, Tina %K cohort comparison %K Education %K Gene-Environment Interaction %K parental separation %X Whether the family context matters for genetic influences on children’s educational attainment remains an open question. Previous research mainly considers parents’ socio-economic standing and overlooks a key dimension of social stratification: childhood family structure. We focus on the extent that parental separation affects genetic influences on educational attainment across 20th Century birth cohorts. This study draws on the US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to estimate the association between education polygenic scores and educational attainment of adults born across the 20th Century who experienced a parental separation before age 16 compared to adults who lived continuously with both parents. We find that genetic effects are smaller for adults whose parents separated compared to adults whose parents remained coupled. Moreover, the magnitude of genetic effects remained constant across cohorts for adults from two-parent households, but decreased for adults whose parents separated. Additional analyses based on the comparison with adults who lost a parent during childhood indicated that family instability rather than parental absence supresses genetic effects among those whose parents separated. Our findings highlight the importance of socio-historic variation in distinct family conditions linked to parental separation that in turn affect children’s chances to tap their genetic potential for education. %B SocArXiv %G eng %R 10.31235/osf.io/62j8g %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Medicine, Surgery, and Public Health %D 2024 %T Diminished returns of educational attainment on life satisfaction among Black and Latino older adults transitioning into retirement %A Shervin Assari %K Education %K Elderly %K Life Satisfaction %K middle-aged %K Retirement %K Wellbeing %X Background This paper investigates the intricate relationship between race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and life satisfaction among middle-aged and older adults in the United States. Guided by the theory of Minorities' Diminished Returns (MDRs), positing that returns on educational attainment are attenuated for minoritized populations, this study aims to explore racial/ethnic disparities in the impact of educational attainment on the life satisfaction of middle-aged and older adults. Methods This was a secondary analysis of existing data. Utilizing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we employed a longitudinal design with a nationally representative sample of middle-aged and older adults in the United States. Key variables of interest included educational attainment, race/ethnicity, and average life satisfaction from wave 9–15 (20–30 years later). Statistical analysis included regression models to assess the associations between educational attainment and life satisfaction overall and by race and ethnicity. Results Overall, 5274 participants entered our analysis and were followed for up to 30 years. Our initial findings revealed a positive association between educational attainment and life satisfaction. Subsequently, we identified significant interactions between race/ethnicity and educational attainment, indicating notable racial and ethnic differences in the impact of educational attainment on life satisfaction. The effects of baseline on future educational attainment and life satisfaction were weaker for Black and Latino than non-Latino White counterparts. Conclusions In accordance with the Minorities' Diminished Returns theory, Black and Latino middle-aged and older adults experience a less pronounced positive impact of educational attainment on life satisfaction compared to their Non-Latino and White counterparts. There are non-additive complex interplay between educational attainment and race and ethnicity on subjective well-being of middle-aged and older adults. The identified disparities in the returns of educational attainment underscore the critical need to recognize and address structural barriers that contribute to the diminished returns of educational attainment for Black and Latino populations. %B Journal of Medicine, Surgery, and Public Health %V 2 %P 100091 %G eng %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.glmedi.2024.100091 %0 Journal Article %J Social Science & Medicine %D 2024 %T A national longitudinal dyadic analysis of spousal education and cognitive decline in the United States. %A Liu, Hui %A Chopik, William J %A Shrout, M Rosie %A Wang, Juwen %K Cognitive decline %K dyadic relationships %K Education %K spouse %X

Education plays a significant role in shaping cognitive functioning throughout an individual's life. However, existing research has not adequately explored how the educational attainment of the spouse can impact cognitive functioning over time. This study presents one of the first longitudinal analyses of how spousal education is linked to cognitive trajectories of each member within couples during their later life in the United States. Guided by the linked lives perspective, we analyze data from 8370 couples in the Health and Retirement Study spanning from 2000 to 2018. Results from the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) integrated with latent growth curve models reveal that cognitive trajectories exhibit a correlation between spouses over time. Moreover, our analysis uncovers gender-specific effects of spousal education on cognition, shedding light on the underlying mechanisms driving this connection. Notably, the lower educational attainment of husbands is associated with a faster cognitive decline in both themselves and their wives. This association is partially explained by economic resources, but not by health and social behaviors. The lower educational attainment of wives is linked to their own faster cognitive decline as well as lower initial cognitive levels of their husbands, in part via economic resources. However, wives' educational attainment is largely unrelated to their husbands' cognitive decline. Intriguingly, wives' education has a more pronounced impact on the health and social behaviors of their husbands than vice versa, although these health and social behaviors do not appear to influence husbands' cognitive decline. In conclusion, these results underscore the importance of considering spousal education in comprehending the complexities of cognitive decline within dyadic relationships.

%B Social Science & Medicine %V 343 %P 116603 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116603 %0 Journal Article %J Ageing and Society %D 2023 %T Adult children's education and trajectories of episodic memory among older parents in the United States of America %A Pai, Manacy %A Lu, Wentian %A Xue, Baowen %K Adult children %K Cognition %K Education %K Marital Status %K socioeconomic status %X The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between adult children's education and older parents’ cognitive health, and the extent to which this relationship is moderated by parents’ own socio-economic and marital statuses. Data using Waves 5 (2000) to 13 (2016) are drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative panel survey of individuals age 50 and above in the United States of America (USA). Older parents’ cognitive functioning is measured using episodic memory from Waves 5–13. Adult children's education is measured using years of schooling, on average, for all adult children of a respondent. Analyses based on multilevel linear growth curve modelling reveal that parents with well-educated adult children report higher memory score over time compared to their counterparts whose children are not as well-educated. We also find that the positive effect of children's education on parents’ cognitive health is moderated by parents’ own education, though not by their income, occupation or marital status. Our work contributes to the growing body of research on the ‘upward’ flow of resources model that assesses the ways in which personal and social assets of the younger generation shape the health and wellbeing of the older generation. Our findings are particularly relevant to the USA given the enduring linkage between socio-economic status and health, and the limited social and economic protection for those of lower social status. %B Ageing and Society %G eng %R 10.1017/S0144686X21000775 %0 Journal Article %J Alzheimers Dement %D 2023 %T Does education moderate gender disparities in later-life memory function? A cross-national comparison of harmonized cognitive assessment protocols in the United States and India. %A Westrick, Ashly C %A Avila-Rieger, Justina %A Gross, Alden L %A Hohman, Timothy %A Vonk, Jet M J %A Zahodne, Laura B %A Lindsay C Kobayashi %K Education %K gender disparities %K India %K memory function %K United States %X

INTRODUCTION: We compared gender disparities in later-life memory, overall and by education, in India and the United States (US).

METHODS: Data (N = 7443) were from harmonized cognitive assessment protocols (HCAPs) in the Longitudinal Aging Study of India-Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia (LASI-DAD; N = 4096; 2017-19) and US Health and Retirement Study HCAP (HRS-HCAP; N = 3347; 2016-17). We derived harmonized memory factors from each study using confirmatory factor analysis. We used multivariable-adjusted linear regression to compare gender disparities in memory function between countries, overall and by education.

RESULTS: In the United States, older women had better memory than older men (0.28 SD-unit difference; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.35). In India, older women had worse memory than older men (-0.15 SD-unit difference; 95% CI: -0.20, -0.10), which attenuated with increasing education and literacy.

CONCLUSION: We observed gender disparities in memory in India that were not present in the United States, and which dissipated with education and literacy.

%B Alzheimers Dement %G eng %R 10.1002/alz.13404 %0 Web Page %D 2023 %T Education may be the best way to protect against cognitive decline, new research suggests %A Carroll, Linda %K Cognitive decline %K Education %I NBC News %G eng %U https://www.nbcnews.com/health/aging/protect-memory-education-key-new-science-suggests-rcna69400 %0 Journal Article %J American Journal of Health Economics %D 2023 %T Increased Schooling Reduces Hospitalization Later in Life: New Evidence with Optimal Instruments from the United States %A Yue, Dahai %A Ponce, Ninez A. %A Needleman, Jack %A Ettner, Susan L. %A Lleras-Muney, Adriana %K Education %K Hospitalization %K Optimal instruments %K Plausibly %K Sparse model %X We investigate the causal effect of education on hospitalization. We apply novel techniques to estimate a sparse model that uses the least absolute selection and shrinkage operator (LASSO) regression with a data-driven penalty to construct optimal cross-validated instrumental variables and select a parsimonious set of controls. This method yields consistent and more efficient estimates relative to conventional instrumental variable procedures and overcomes the limitations of previous studies using compulsory schooling laws in the United States. We also use an approach for a valid inference that allows instruments to be only plausibly exogenous. Using the 1992-2016 Health and Retirement Study, our results suggest that an additional year of schooling in early life lowers the likelihood of two-year hospitalizations later in life by 2.6 percentage points (or about 9.5%). This estimate is robust to different model specifications and plausible amounts of imperfect exogeneity and is similar to the local treatment effect among potential compliers. %B American Journal of Health Economics %G eng %R 10.1086/728403 %0 Web Page %D 2023 %T Known risk factors don’t explain vast contrasts in cognitive abilities as we age: study %A Lasek, Alicia %K Cognition %K Education %K Risk Factors %I McKnights %G eng %U https://www.mcknights.com/news/clinical-news/known-risk-factors-dont-explain-vast-contrasts-in-cognitive-abilities-as-we-age-study/ %0 Journal Article %J PLoS One %D 2023 %T Predictors of cognitive functioning trajectories among older Americans: A new investigation covering 20 years of age- and non-age-related cognitive change. %A Zheng, Hui %A Cagney, Kathleen %A Choi, Yoonyoung %K Cognitive decline %K depression %K Education %K Occupation %K race %K Wealth %X

Despite the extensive study of predictors of cognitive decline in older age, a key uncertainty is how much these predictors explain both the intercept and age- and non-age-related change in cognitive functioning (CF). We examined the contribution of a broad range of life course determinants to CF trajectories. Data came from 7,068 participants in the 1996-2016 Health and Retirement Study. CF was measured as a summary score on a 27-point cognitive battery of items. We estimated multilevel growth curve models to examine the CF trajectories in individuals ages 54-85. We found that the variation in CF level at age 54 was three times as much as the variation in age slope. All the observed individual predictors explained 38% of the variation in CF at age 54. Personal education was the most important predictor (25%), followed by race, household wealth and income, parental education, occupation, and depression. The contributions of activity limitations, chronic diseases, health behaviors (obesity, smoking, vigorous activity), childhood conditions (childhood health, nutrition, financial situation), gender, marital status, and religion were rather small (<5%). Even though the age slope varied with many adulthood factors, they only explained 5.6% of the between-person variation in age slope. Moreover, age explained 23% of within-person variation in CF from age 54 to 85. The rest non-age-related within-person variation could not be explained by the observed time-varying factors. These findings suggest that future research is urgently needed to discover the main determinants of the slope of cognitive decline to slow down the progression of cognitive impairment and dementia.

%B PLoS One %V 18 %P e0281139 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0281139 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Human Capital %D 2022 %T American HALE at midlife: An analysis based on HRS %A Kim, Jihye %A Lahiri, Kajal %K Education %K health-adjusted life expectancy %K race %X The role of education and race in explaining disparities in health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) for Americans in the age group 45-64 is examined. We compute severity-weighted prevalence of diseases with comorbidity adjustments, and map the information onto 21 disabling conditions from Health and Retirement Study (HRS) over 2000-2016. The approach allows us to evaluate the importance of major disease and risk factors that explain the dynamics of life expectancy and HALE in recent years, and to find that Americans have been experiencing higher prevalence of various diseases and risk factors long before the recent decline in life expectancy in 2014. %B Journal of Human Capital %V 16 %G eng %N 1 %R https://doi.org/10.1086/717545 %0 Thesis %D 2022 %T Education and cognitive resilience: the role of schooling characteristics in shaping an ability to maintain high levels of cognitive functioning after the onset of disease %A Eng, Chloe %K Cognition %K Education %K Episodic Memory %X This dissertation explores the role of educational characteristics as a marker of cognitive resilience. Incident stroke is often accompanied by acute deficits and declines in cognitive ability as well as long-term acceleration of cognitive decline. These resulting impairments and dementia drastically affect quality of life, and patients with dementia after stroke are at increased risk of death and disability. Education has been consistently identified as a predictor of cognition after stroke, but mechanisms behind this relationship are not fully understood. One hypothesis considers cognitive resilience, suggesting that education provides individuals with cognitive tools to maintain cognitive functioning amidst a clinically meaningful amount of neurodegeneration or injury. However, studies of this relationship are hindered by a lack of universally accepted definitions of cognitive resilience. Furthermore, some studies suggest that the commonly used measure of attained education may not capture variation in cognition as well as alternative measures such as educational quality and literacy. The relationship between stroke and dementia has the potential to be used to study cognitive resilience and reserve, a critical issue in cognitive aging research. By using stroke as a well-defined and clearly diagnosed disease with a known time of event onset, studies can be conducted to assess for differences between educational subgroups and to differentiate between normal-age related decline and disease-related pathological processes. Therefore, this proposal aims to investigate the influence of educational characteristics on cognitive resilience after stroke. Chapter 1 examines memory trajectories before, at the time, and after stroke in a nationally representative sample to assess where along the development of stroke education may benefit cognition. More years of attained education was associated with a small decrease in memory decrement at the time of stroke and a slight slowing of memory decline after stroke onset. However the benefits of education lie primarily in pre-existing cognitive reserve prior to stroke, with individuals of higher attained education declining only slightly slower than individuals with lower education. Chapter 2 estimates the extent to which educational characteristics modify the effect of history of stroke on dementia risk, finding that state-level administrative school quality is a predictor of late-life dementia incidence, independently of own educational attainment. Chapter 3 investigates whether education influences individuals’ cognitive responses to markers of disease pathology in the brain, finding that contrary to previous studies, the relationship between white matter hyperintensities and cognition does not differ by level of education. Together, these studies address the gap in understanding of mechanisms behind cognitive resilience by investigating whether increases in education allow people to maintain cognitive functioning following the onset of disease, and assessing where education is most beneficial along the development of disease. %I University of California, San Francisco %C San Francisco, CA %V Ph.D. %G eng %U https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2th4t97g %0 Journal Article %J SSM Population Health %D 2022 %T Education in the Jim Crow South and Black-White inequities in allostatic load among older adults. %A Walsemann, Katrina M %A Pearson, Jay %A Abbruzzi, Emily %K Education %K Measurement %K race disparity %X

In the U.S., Black adults consistently have higher allostatic load - an indicator of physiological dysregulation - than White adults. Education is considered a likely mechanism given racial differences in attainment, but evidence is mixed. This may be due, in part, to data limitations that have made it difficult for scholars to account for the structurally rooted systemic racism that shaped the U.S. education system and led to large racial inequities in school term length and school attendance among older adults who grew up in the Jim Crow South. Our study addresses this limitation by linking historical data on Black and White segregated school systems in the U.S. South from 1919 to 1954 to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to determine if a new measure of educational attainment that accounts for structural racism that led to differences in the number of school days attended by Black and White students across years and states better explains Black-White inequities in allostatic load among older adults who attended school during Jim Crow. We restrict our sample to HRS respondents racialized as White or Black, who resided in the South when they were school-aged, completed primary/secondary school between 1919 and 1954, and provided a measure of allostatic load (n = 1932). We find that our new measure of schooling - duration in school - reduced the Black-White inequity in allostatic load more so than self-reported years of schooling whether we measured allostatic load continuously (34% vs 16%) or categorically (45% vs 20%). Our findings highlight the importance of identifying and using historically informed measures of schooling that account for structurally rooted systemic racism when trying to understand how education shapes the health of individuals racialized as Black in the United States.

%B SSM Population Health %V 19 %P 101224 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101224 %0 Journal Article %J Social Currents %D 2022 %T The Expansion of Higher Education and the Education-Health Gradient in the United States %A Frase, Robert T. %A Bauldry, Shawn %K counterfactual perspective %K Education %K Functional limitations %K Health Disparities %X The United States experienced a period of rapid higher education expansion between the mid-1940s and mid-1970s. Although this expansion likely improved the health of people able to take advantage of new education opportunities, expansion may have also intensified health inequalities between college-educated and non-college-educated people (1) through the compositional change in the relative (dis)advantage of these groups, (2) through the displacement of non-college-educated people in a more competitive post-expansion labor market, and (3) by increasing health returns to a college degree. Our analyses, rooted in a counterfactual perspective, draw on data from the Health and Retirement Study that spans birth cohorts who came of age before and after the period of expansion, allowing us to differentiate people who earned a degree because of expansion but would not otherwise (conditional-earners) from people who would or would not have earned a degree regardless of expansion (always-earners and never-earners, respectively). Comparing changes in the health of these three groups before and after education expansion permits us to individually evaluate how compositional change, displacement, and increasing returns to education exacerbated health inequalities. Our findings suggest that education expansion improved the health of conditional-earners and magnified health inequalities through the mechanism of displacement. %B Social Currents %V 9 %P 70-86 %@ 2329-4965 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1177/23294965211021645 %0 Thesis %B Sociology %D 2022 %T Home Away From Home: Education, Health, and Nursing Home Care %A Ryan, Cayley %K Education %K health %K nursing home care %X Nursing homes are dominant late-life health care institutions slated to grow in importance as the United States experiences a dramatic demographic shift characterized by a significant segment of the population entering older age groups. Though a substantial portion of the U.S. population is about to enter the period of life in which they are at highest risk of entering a nursing home, we know little about how their demographic identities and accumulated resources influence their decisions about using nursing homes. This study contributes a more thorough examination of the relationship between education, health, and use of nursing homes. Education is hypothesized to affect nursing home usage through two pathways: access (e.g., institutional familiarity) and need (e.g., development of health conditions). Two different models are run using data from Wave 13 of the Health and Retirement Study to explore these questions. The results show that the link between education and nursing home usage primarily operates through the access pathway, as high school and college-educated respondents had significantly higher odds of reporting any nursing home usage compared to their non-degree-holding peers but did not show a significant difference in the expected time spent in nursing homes. These findings have important implications for the influence of education over the life course into older ages and highlight a potential source of health inequity. %B Sociology %I The Pennsylvania State University %C State College, PA %V Master of Arts %G eng %U https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/29085cer5700 %0 Report %D 2022 %T Inequalities in Retirement Lifespan in the United States %A Shi, Jiaxin %A Christian Dudel %A Monden, Christiaan %A van Raalte, Alyson A. %K Education %K gender %K Inequality %K Retirement %K work-related issues %X Objectives Persistent and substantial disparities in old-age mortality suggest that there may be great inequalities in the length of retirement life. This study aims to assess gender and educational differences in the average retirement lifespan and the variation in retirement lifespan, taking into account individual labor-force exit and re-entry dynamics. Methods We used longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study in 1996–2016, focusing on respondents aged 50 and above (N = 32,228). Multistate life tables were estimated using discrete-time event history models. The average retirement lifespan, as well as absolute and relative inequalities in retirement lifespan, were calculated analytically. Results We found that among women there was a persistent educational gradient in average retirement lifespan over the whole period studied; among men, the relationship between education and retirement expectancy was different across periods. Women and the lower-educated had higher absolute inequality in retirement lifespan than men and the highereducated—yet these relationships were reversed when examined by relative inequality. Discussion Our multistate approach provides an accurate and comprehensive picture of the retirement lifespan of older Americans in the past two decades. Such findings should be considered in high-level discussions on Social Security. Potential reforms such as raising the eligibility age or cutting benefits may have unexpected implications for different social groups due to their differential impacts on retirement initiation and re-entry dynamics. %B MPIDR Working Paper %I Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research %C Germany %G eng %R 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2022-015 %0 Book Section %B The end of medicine as we know it - and why your health has a future %D 2022 %T Male Plus Low Income = Double Whammy %A Schmidt, Harald H. H. W. %K Education %K ELSA %K health care system %K Low income %K Male %K socio-economic status %X Check-up success at the GP, check-up success at the dentist, less diabetes, healthier diet, less alcohol consumption, more exercise, better sleep, less stress, and life expectancy all correlate somehow with better education and higher socio-economic status and virtually not at all with the healthcare systems in place in each country. Some of the most different health systems are those in the USA (mostly private) and the UK (state-run), for example. In the USA, people tend to have private health insurance up to 65, often through their employer; in England, healthcare is free and funded by taxes. How education affects health in old age in both countries was investigated in two studies: in the UK ``English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)'' and in the USA ``Health and Retirement Study''. The result is as follows: Differences in both health systems have little effect on the expected years of life in good health. The situation is different with education and socio-economic status. %B The end of medicine as we know it - and why your health has a future %I Springer International Publishing %P 61–69 %@ 978-3-030-95293-8 %G eng %R 10.1007/978-3-030-95293-8_5 %0 Journal Article %J Health Psychology %D 2022 %T Psychological well-being, education, and mortality. %A Boylan, Jennifer Morozink %A Tompkins, Justin L %A Patrick M. Krueger %K Education %K Life Satisfaction %K Mortality %K Optimism %K Purpose in life %K Social Support %K Wellbeing %X

OBJECTIVES: Research on older adults often focuses on mitigating health risks, and less is known about protective factors that contribute to longer, healthier lives. We examine longitudinal associations between psychological well-being and mortality among a national sample of older adults and test competing hypotheses about whether the education/mortality association depends on the level of psychological well-being.

METHOD: We use six waves (2006-2016) of the Health and Retirement Study, a national sample of adults over age 50 ( = 21,172), with 14 years of mortality follow-up. Psychological well-being is measured up to three times and includes positive affect, life satisfaction, purpose in life, social support, and optimism. Discrete-time survival models examine (a) the association between time-varying psychological well-being and mortality, and (b) interactions between psychological well-being and education on mortality.

RESULTS: Higher purpose in life, positive affect, optimism, social support, and life satisfaction predicted lower mortality. A 1 increase in most measures of psychological well-being was associated with a 2-4 year increase in life expectancy at age 50. Positive affect and purpose in life moderated the education/mortality association-the inverse association between education and mortality was stronger for those with high psychological well-being.

CONCLUSIONS: We find strong evidence that psychological well-being predicts lower mortality risk and modifies the association between education and mortality. The inverse association between education and mortality becomes stronger at higher levels of purpose in life and positive affect. Therefore, efforts to promote life satisfaction, social support, and optimism may support longer lives without widening education disparities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

%B Health Psychology %V 41 %P 225-234 %G eng %N 3 %R 10.1037/hea0001159 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %D 2022 %T Race inequity in school attendance across the Jim Crow South and its implications for Black-White disparities in trajectories of cognitive function among older adults. %A Katrina M Walsemann %A Urena, Stephanie %A Mateo P Farina %A Jennifer A Ailshire %K cognitive function %K Education %K historical data %K life course %K Racial Disparities %K school segregation %X

OBJECTIVES: Although education is a key determinant of cognitive function, its role in determining Black-White disparities in cognitive function is unclear. This may be due, in part, to data limitations that have made it difficult to account for systemic educational inequities in the Jim Crow South experienced by older cohorts, including differences in the number of days Black students attended school compared to their White counterparts or Black peers in better funded southern states. We determine if accounting for differential rates of school attendance across race, years, and states in the Jim Crow South better illuminates Black-White disparities in trajectories of cognitive function.

METHODS: We linked historical state-level data on school attendance from the 1919/20 to 1953/54 Biennial Surveys of Education to the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of U.S. adults over age 50. We restricted our sample to Black and White older adults who attended school in the Jim Crow South and began primary school in/after 1919/20 and completed primary/secondary school by 1953/1954 (n=4,343). We used linear mixed models to estimate trajectories of total cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory.

RESULTS: Self-reported years of schooling explained 28-33% of the Black-White disparity in level of cognitive function, episodic memory, and working memory. Duration of school, a measure that accounted for differential rates of school attendance, explained 41-55% of the Black-White disparity in these outcomes.

DISCUSSION: Our study highlights the importance of using a more refined measure of schooling for understanding the education--cognitive health relationship.

%B The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %V 77 %P 1467-1477 %G eng %N 8 %R 10.1093/geronb/gbac026 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology: Series B %D 2022 %T Racial/Ethnic and Educational Disparities in the Impact of Diabetes on Population Health Among the U.S.-Born Population %A Zang, Emma %A Scott M Lynch %A Liu, Chen %A Lu, Nancy %A Banas, Julia %K Diabetes %K Education %K Health Disparities %K Life Expectancy %K Race/ethnicity %X

OBJECTIVES: This study examines total life expectancies (TLE) for both healthy and diabetic US-born populations and two measures capturing quality of life: 1) the proportion of remaining life to be spent without either other chronic conditions or ADL disabilities (ADLs), and 2) the proportion of remaining life to be spent with ADLs for US-born diabetic populations by race/ethnicity and educational attainment.

METHODS: Using the 1998-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (n=16,983), we apply a Bayesian multistate life table method to calculate these quantities from the constructed life tables.

RESULTS: TLE at age 50 is shorter for diabetic individuals than healthy individuals, for non-Hispanic Blacks than members of other racial/ethnic groups, and for less-educated individuals. Gaps in TLE at age 50 between healthy and diabetic populations range from 6.3 to 8.8 years across sex-race combinations, and 5.6 to 9.2 years across sex-education combinations. Among the diabetic population, those with at least a college degree on average have a higher proportion of remaining life to be spent without either other chronic conditions or ADLs. Hispanics and those without a college degree have a particularly high proportion of remaining life to be spent with ADLs. Although diabetic women on average live longer than men, their quality of life tends to be lower.

DISCUSSION: The impact of diabetes on population health varies across racial/ethnic and educational groups. The findings support targeted interventions for vulnerable groups, such as people of color, women, and less-educated individuals.

%B The Journals of Gerontology: Series B %V 77 %P 1519-1528 %G eng %N 8 %R 10.1093/geronb/gbab149 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Positive School Psychology %D 2022 %T Thailand and USA Education Administration about Life-Long Learning in the Form of a Project Held in the University %A Khamkhrueang, Chaiyawat %K Education %K lifelong learning %K Self-rated health %X Lifelong study in the picture of management education covered in all forms the aspects of management in Thailand are 1) Formal Education, 2) Non-formal Education, and 3) In-formal Education. Today, the study is open to nature. Students in today's world, there are need to be constantly learning. To be able to live That is normal for society so a life-long study therefore came into play. The Country Manpower Production and Development Competition Plan in Thailand 2021 – 2027. Human resource development policy and the institute of knowledge in promoting lifelong learning and develop skills for the future. Some universities have adopted education management as a lifelong learning model. To be organized as a university project to promote learning of third parties. However, the life-long education that the university has undertaken still offers useful proposals for further project development %B Journal of Positive School Psychology %V 6 %P 8080-8086 %G eng %U https://www.journalppw.com/index.php/jpsp/article/view/9327 %N 5 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology, Series A %D 2022 %T Trans-ethnic Meta-analysis of Interactions between Genetics and Early Life Socioeconomic Context on Memory Performance and Decline in Older Americans. %A Jessica Faul %A Kho, Minjung %A Zhao, Wei %A Rumfelt, Kalee E %A Yu, Miao %A Colter Mitchell %A Smith, Jennifer A %K Childhood SES %K Cognition %K Education %K Epidemiology %K Gene-Environment Interaction %K Genetics %K Memory %K Rare Variant %X

Later life cognitive function is influenced by genetics as well as early- and later-life socioeconomic context. However, few studies have examined the interaction between genetics and early childhood factors. Using gene-based tests (iSKAT/iSKAT-O), we examined whether common and/or rare exonic variants in 39 gene regions previously associated with cognitive performance, dementia, and related traits had an interaction with childhood socioeconomic context (parental education and financial strain) on memory performance or decline in European ancestry (EA, N=10,468) and African ancestry (AA, N=2,252) participants from the Health and Retirement Study. Of the 39 genes, 22 in EA and 19 in AA had nominally significant interactions with at least one childhood socioeconomic measure on memory performance and/or decline; however, all but one (father's education by SLC24A4 in AA) were not significant after multiple testing correction (FDR <0.05). In trans-ethnic meta-analysis, two genes interacted with childhood socioeconomic context (FDR <0.05): mother's education by MS4A4A on memory performance, and father's education by SLC24A4 on memory decline. Both interactions remained significant (p<0.05) after adjusting for respondent's own educational attainment, APOE ε4 status, lifestyle factors, BMI, and comorbidities. For both interactions in EA and AA, the genetic effect was stronger in participants with low parental education. Examination of common and rare variants in genes discovered through GWAS shows that childhood context may interact with key gene regions to jointly impact later life memory function and decline. Genetic effects may be more salient for those with lower childhood socioeconomic status.

%B The Journals of Gerontology, Series A %V 77 %P 2248-2256 %G eng %N 11 %R 10.1093/gerona/glab255 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Human Capital %D 2022 %T Trends in Health in Midlife and Late Life. %A Hudomiet, Péter %A Michael D Hurd %A Rohwedder, Susann %K Diabetes %K Education %K Obesity %K pain %K Smoking %X

Gains in life expectancy have recently slowed and mortality inequalities have increased. This paper examines whether trends in health observed at ages 55 to 89 mirror those trends in mortality, which may serve as an early indicator for the future evolution of mortality. We found that many health outcomes have worsened from 1992 to 2016, especially at ages below 70, and that differentials in health between low and high education groups have increased among the more recent cohorts. Overall the findings cast a pessimistic light on the future evolution of mortality rates and mortality inequalities.

%B Journal of Human Capital %V 16 %P 133-156 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1086/717542 %0 Report %D 2022 %T Understanding cognitive impairment in the U.S. through the lenses of intersectionality and (un)conditional cumulative (dis)advantage %A Jo Mhairi Hale %A Daniel C Schneider %A Neil K Mehta %A Mikko Myrskylä %K cognitive impairment %K cumulative (dis)advantage %K Dementia %K Education %K Health Disparities %K Intersectionality %X Grounded in theories of intersectionality and cumulative (dis)advantage, we develop complementary formalizations of (dis)advantage to study disparities in cognitive impairment: Conditional Cumulative (Dis)Advantage that reflects inequalities in outcomes and Unconditional Cumulative (Dis)Advantage that additionally accounts for inequalities in opportunities. We study the properties of these formalizations and show that cumulative disadvantage does not imply cumulative advantage. Using these formalizations and incidence-based multistate models, we analyze the Health and Retirement Study to assess how racial/ethnic, nativity, gender, early-life adversity, and educational (dis)advantages accumulate into three important metrics for characterizing later-life cognitive impairment—lifetime risk, mean age at first impairment, and cognitive health expectancies. We find that the benefits and penalties of one (dis)advantage depend on positionality on the other axes of inequality. Black women and Latinas experience Conditional Cumulative Disadvantage in cognitive impairment: they are penalized more from having lower education than Whites. White men experience Conditional Cumulative Advantage: they benefit more from higher education than Blacks or Latinx. However, when accounting for racial/ethnic inequities in educational opportunities, results ubiquitously show Unconditional Cumulative Disadvantage. Our formalization provides a mathematical grounding for cumulative (dis)advantage, and the empirical results comprehensively document the multi-dimensional, intersecting axes of stratification that perpetuate inequities in cognitive impairment. %B MPIDR Working Paper %I Max Planck Institute %G eng %R 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2022-029 %0 Journal Article %J Ageing and Society %D 2022 %T Work at age 62: expectations and realisations among recent cohorts of Americans %A Leah R. Abrams %A Philippa J Clarke %A Neil K Mehta %K birth cohorts %K Education %K race %K retirement timing %K unmet expectations %K Work %X Much remains unknown about how the 2008 Great Recession, coupled with the ageing baby-boomer cohort, have shaped retirement expectations and realised retirement timing across diverse groups of older Americans. Using the Health and Retirement Study (1992–2016), we compared expectations about full-time work at age 62 (reported at ages 51–61) with realised labour force status at age 62. Of the 12,049 respondents, 34 per cent reported no chance of working full time at 62 (zero probability) and 21 per cent reported it was very likely (90–100 probability). Among those reporting no chance of working, there was a 0.111 probability of unmet expectations; among those with high expectations of working, there was a 0.430 probability of unmet expectations. Black and Hispanic Americans were more likely than white Americans to have unmet expectations of both types. Educational attainment was associated with higher probability of unexpectedly working and lower probability of unexpectedly not working. Baby-boomers experienced fewer unmet expectations than prior cohorts but more uncertainty about work status at 62. Our findings highlight the unpredictability of retirement timing for significant segments of the US population and the role of the Great Recession in contributing to uncertainty. Given the individual and societal benefits of long work lives, special attention should be paid to the high rates of unexpectedly not working at age 62. %B Ageing and Society %V 42 %P 1213-1233 %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1017/S0144686X20001531 %0 Web Page %D 2021 %T As dementia’s toll on the U.S. rises, new study shows major gaps in who gets care that could help them remain at home %A Gavin, Kara %K Caregiving %K Dementia %K Education %K Income %K race %X A new study provides stark statistics about a reality that 6 million Americans with dementia and their families live every day: one where people with dementia receive hundreds of hours a month in unpaid care from spouses, adult children and other relatives, and where some rely on paid help including nursing home care. The study finds major differences in potential family caregiver availability by the gender, race, ethnicity, education level and family structure of the person with dementia. People with dementia who are women, Black, low-income or have lower levels of education were all less likely than their counterparts to have available spouse caregivers, but more likely to have adult children available to provide care. The study also shows that the immediate availability of adult children is directly associated with the chances that a person with dementia will continue to live at home or move to a nursing home. %B News Release %I Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan %C Ann Arbor, MI %G eng %U https://isr.umich.edu/news-events/news-releases/as-dementias-toll-on-the-u-s-rises-new-study-shows-major-gaps-in-who-gets-care-that-could-help-them-remain-at-home/ %0 Journal Article %J Alzheimer's & Dementia %D 2021 %T Associations between education and dementia in the Caribbean and the United States: An international comparison. %A Li, Jing %A Llibre-Guerra, Jorge J %A Harrati, Amal %A Weiss, Jordan %A Jiménez-Velázquez, Ivonne Z %A Acosta, Daisy %A Llibre-Rodriguez, Juan de Jesús %A Liu, Mao-Mei %A William H Dow %K Caribbean %K Dementia %K Education %K Hispanics %K Sister studies %X

Introduction: Despite high dementia prevalence in Hispanic populations globally, especially Caribbean Hispanics, no study has comparatively examined the association between education and dementia among Hispanics living in the Caribbean Islands and older adults in the United States.

Methods: We used data on 6107 respondents aged 65 and older in the baseline wave of the population-based and harmonized 10/66 survey from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, collected between 2003 and 2008, and 11,032 respondents aged 65 and older from the U.S.-based Health and Retirement Study data in 2014, a total of 17,139 individuals. We estimated multivariable logistic regression models examining the association between education and dementia, adjusted for age, income, assets, and occupation. The models were estimated separately for the Caribbean population (pooled and by setting) and the U.S. population by race/ethnicity (Hispanic, Black, and White), followed by pooled models across all populations.

Results: In the Caribbean population, the relative risk of dementia among low versus high educated adults was 1.45 for women (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17, 1.74) and 1.92 (95% CI 1.35, 2.49) for men, smaller compared to those in the United States, especially among non-Hispanic Whites (women: 2.78, 95% CI 1.94, 3.61; men: 5.98, 95% CI 4.02, 7.95).

Discussion: The differential associations between education and dementia across the Caribbean and US settings may be explained by greater disparities in social conditions in the United States compared to the Caribbean, such as access to health care, healthy behaviors, and social stressors, which serve as potentially important mediators.

%B Alzheimer's & Dementia %V 7 %P e12204 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1002/trc2.12204 %0 Journal Article %J Social Science & Medicine %D 2021 %T Cognition in context: Pathways and compound risk in a sample of US non-Hispanic whites. %A Jennifer W Robinette %A Jason D Boardman %K Cognition %K Education %K Neighborhoods %K polygenic score %K Poverty %K Wealth %X

The population of individuals with cognitive impairment and dementia is growing rapidly, necessitating etiological investigation. It is clear that individual differences in cognition later in life have both genetic and multi-level environmental correlates. Despite significant recent progress in cellular and molecular research, the exact mechanisms linking genes, brains, and cognition remain elusive. In relation to cognition, it is unlikely that genetic and environmental risk factors function in a vacuum, but rather interact and cluster together. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether aspects of individual socioeconomic status (SES) explain the cognitive genotype-phenotype association, and whether neighborhood SES modifies the effects of genes and individual SES on cognitive ability. Using data from non-Hispanic White participants in the 2016 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, a national sample of United States adults, we examined links between a polygenic score for general cognition and performance-based cognitive functioning. In a series of weighted linear regressions and formal tests of mediation, we observed a significant genotype-phenotype association that was partially attenuated after including individual education to the baseline model, although little reductions were observed for household wealth or census tract-level percent poverty. These findings suggest that genetic risk for poor cognition is partially explained by education, and this pathway is not modified by poverty-level of the neighborhood.

%B Social Science & Medicine %V 283 %P 114183 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114183 %0 Journal Article %J American Sociological Review %D 2021 %T The Consolidation of Education and Health in Families %A Maralani, Vida %A Portier, Camille %K consolidation %K Education %K health %K Marriage %K multidimensional inequality %K sorting %X For a given person, many socioeconomic resources are correlated, but resources also accumulate in families, depending on how people sort in relationships based on their individual characteristics. This study proposes that people match on multiple resources in long-term relationships as a strategy for creating families with systematically advantaged portfolios?a strategy we call ?consolidation.? Analyzing Health and Retirement Study data and using smoking as a measure of health, we show that couples match on both educational and health statuses at the start of marriage, and this systematic pattern of matching intensifies over time. We find that matching on smoking is not simply a byproduct of educational homogamy, and that matching on smoking/non-smoking status has increased over time. Moreover, couples increasingly sort on education and health jointly, such that highly educated couples are even more likely to be nonsmoking than would be expected by matching on education or smoking status alone. Increasing educational inequalities in quitting smoking between marriage and first birth reinforce this consolidation process. Using Current Population Surveys, we find these patterns are stronger in marriages than in cohabitations. The consolidation of education and health in couples is an important mechanism that amplifies inequality in families and, potentially, across generations. %B American Sociological Review %V 86 %P 670-699 %@ 0003-1224 %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1177/00031224211028592 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Alzheimer's Disease %D 2021 %T Education Differences in the Adverse Impact of PM2.5 on Incident Cognitive Impairment Among U.S. Older Adults. %A Jennifer A Ailshire %A Katrina M Walsemann %K Aging %K Air Pollution %K Cognition %K Dementia %K Education %K Modifiable risk factors %X

BACKGROUND: Air pollution is linked to worse cognitive function in older adults, but whether differences in this relationship exist by education, a key risk factor for cognitive decline, remains unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if the association between fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) and incident cognitive impairment varies by level of education in two cohorts assessed a decade apart.

METHODS: We used data on adults ages 60 and older from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked with tract-level annual average PM2.5. We used mixed-effects logistic regression models to examine education differences in the association between PM2.5 and incident cognitive impairment in two cohorts: 2004 (n = 9,970) and 2014 (n = 9,185). Cognitive impairment was determined with tests of memory and processing speed for self-respondents and proxy and interviewer assessments of cognitive functioning in non-self-respondents.

RESULTS: PM2.5 was unrelated to incident cognitive impairment among those with 13 or more years of education, but the probability of impairment increased with greater concentrations of PM2.5 among those with 8 or fewer years of education. The interaction between education and PM2.5 was only found in 2004, possibly because PM2.5 concentrations were much lower in 2014.

CONCLUSION: Education is a key determinant of cognitive decline and impairment, and in higher pollution contexts may serve as a protective factor against the harms of air pollution on the aging brain. Additionally, because air pollution is ubiquitous, and particularly harmful to vulnerable populations, even small improvements in air quality may have large impacts on population health.

%B Journal of Alzheimer's Disease %V 79 %P 615-625 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.3233/JAD-200765 %0 Conference Proceedings %B 32nd Reves Meeting %D 2021 %T Educational Differences in Life Span Variation in Dementia Incidence %A Hyungmin Cha %A Mateo P Farina %A Chi-Tsun Chiu %A Mark D Hayward %K Dementia %K Education %X Objective: To examine educational differences in life span variation in dementia in the United States and assess the role of adult income in explaining the variation within educational levels. Method: We use the Health and Retirement Study (2000-2014) and techniques of microsimulation and bootstrap to estimate the age distribution of dementia incidence for major education groups, controlling and not controlling for adult income. Hypotheses: We anticipate that life span variation in dementia incidence will be substantially larger among less educated persons than among highly educated persons. Part of the reason for the larger educational variation among less educated persons may reflect both economic vulnerability in later adulthood (a large frail tail) and economic success (a smaller but visible robust tail). Among well educated people, we expect to see a compression of dementia reflecting a very small frail tail and the postponement of dementia until ages proximate to death %B 32nd Reves Meeting %I Reves Network on Health Expectancy %C Virtual %G eng %U https://www.reves2021.org/sites/reves2021.org/files/2021-05/Schedule_REVES2021_withAbstract.pdf %0 Journal Article %J Research on Aging %D 2021 %T Educational Differences in Risk of All-Cause Mortality After Acute Cardiovascular Events: Examining Cohort and Gender Variations. %A Fan, Wen %A Lam, Jack %K cardiovascular %K Cohort %K Education %K gender %K Mortality %X

Acute cardiovascular events are prevalent in older adults. In this study, following a sample of respondents from the 1996-2016 Health and Retirement Study after diagnosis of myocardial infarction or stroke, we used discrete-time event history models to study mortality post diagnosis. We found an educational gradient in mortality following myocardial infarction or stroke with the better educated surviving longer, even as the gradient was weaker for stroke. Cohort variations existed with the educational gradients stronger for more recent cohorts (Silent and Boomer) as compared with the GI cohort. Gender interacted with cohort to shape mortality such that men from the Silent and Boomer cohorts benefited the most from high school and some college education. Mediation analysis showed that the educational differences in mortality are accounted for by spousal educational attainment, wealth, Medicaid coverage, change in health behaviors, and comorbidities.

%B Research on Aging %V 43 %P 403-415 %G eng %N 9-10 %R 10.1177/0164027520966758 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology: Series B %D 2021 %T The Effect of Childhood Socioeconomic Position and Social Mobility on Cognitive Function and Change Among Older Adults: A Comparison Between the United States and England. %A Jessica Faul %A Erin B Ware %A Mohammed U Kabeto %A Fisher, Jonah %A Kenneth M. Langa %K Cognition %K Cross-national comparison %K Early origins of health %K Education %K ELSA %K Life course analysis %X

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to examine the relationship between childhood socioeconomic position (SEP) and cognitive function in later life within nationally representative samples of older adults in the United States and England, investigate whether these effects are mediated by later-life SEP, and determine whether social mobility from childhood to adulthood affects cognitive function and decline.

METHOD: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA), we examined the relationships between measures of SEP, cognitive performance and decline using individual growth curve models.

RESULTS: High childhood SEP was associated with higher cognitive performance at baseline in both cohorts and did not affect the rate of decline. This benefit dissipated after adjusting for education and adult wealth in the United States. Respondents with low childhood SEP, above median education, and high adult SEP had better cognitive performance at baseline than respondents with a similar childhood background and less upward mobility in both countries.

DISCUSSION: These findings emphasize the impact of childhood SEP on cognitive trajectories among older adults. Upward mobility may partially compensate for disadvantage early in life but does not protect against cognitive decline.

%B The Journals of Gerontology: Series B %V 76 %P S51-S63 %G eng %N Supplement_1 %R 10.1093/geronb/gbaa138 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %D 2021 %T Genes Related to Education Predict Frailty Among Older Adults in the United States. %A Huibregtse, Brooke M %A Breanne L Newell-Stamper %A Benjamin W Domingue %A Jason D Boardman %K Education %K Functional health status %K Genetics %K Successful aging %X

OBJECTIVE: This article expands on research that links education and frailty among older adults by considering the role of genes associated with education.

METHOD: Data come from a sample of 7,064 non-Hispanic, white adults participating in the 2004-2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Frailty was measured with two indices: (a) The Frailty Index which corresponds to a deficit accumulation model; and (b) The Paulson-Lichtenberg Frailty Index which corresponds to the biological syndrome/phenotype model. Genes associated with education were quantified using an additive polygenic score. Associations between the polygenic score and frailty indices were tested using a series of multilevel models, controlling for multiple observations for participants across waves.

RESULTS: Results showed a strong and negative association between genes for education and frailty symptoms in later life. This association exists above and beyond years of completed education and we demonstrate that this association becomes weaker as older adults approach their 80s.

DISCUSSION: The results contribute to the education-health literature by highlighting new and important pathways through which education might be linked to successful aging.

%B The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %V 76 %P 173-183 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1093/geronb/gbz092 %0 Journal Article %J Social Science & Medicine %D 2021 %T Genetic effects and gene-by-education interactions on episodic memory performance and decline in an aging population. %A Jennifer A Smith %A Kho, Minjung %A Wei Zhao %A Yu, Miao %A Colter Mitchell %A Jessica Faul %K Education %K Genetics %K GWAS %K Memory %X Both social and genetic factors contribute to cognitive impairment and decline, yet genetic factors identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) explain only a small portion of trait variability. This "missing heritability" may be due to rare, potentially functional, genetic variants not assessed by GWAS, as well as gene-by-social factor interactions not explicitly modeled. Gene-by-social factor interactions may also operate differently across race/ethnic groups. We selected 39 genes that had significant, replicated associations with cognition, dementia, and related traits in published GWAS. Using gene-based analysis (SKAT/iSKAT), we tested whether common and/or rare variants were associated with episodic memory performance and decline either alone or through interaction with education in >10,000 European ancestry (EA) and >2200 African ancestry (AA) respondents from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Nine genes in EA and five genes in AA were associated with memory performance or decline (p < 0.05), and these effects did not attenuate after adjusting for education. Interaction between education and CLPTM1 on memory performance was significant in AA (p = 0.003; FDR-adjusted p = 0.038) and nominally significant in EA (p = 0.026). In both ethnicities, low memory performance was associated with CLPTM1 genotype (rs10416261) only for those with less than high school education, and effects persisted after adjusting for APOE ε4. For over 70% of gene-by-education interactions across the genome that were at least nominally significant in either ethnic group (p < 0.05), genetic effects were only observed for those with less than high school education. These results suggest that genetic effects on memory identified in this study are not mediated by education, but there may be important gene-by-education interactions across the genome, including in the broader APOE genomic region, which operate independently of APOE ε4. This work illustrates the importance of developing theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches for integrating social and genomic data to study cognition across ethnic groups. %B Social Science & Medicine %V 271 %P 112039 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30449520?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.11.019 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %D 2021 %T Increasing Education-Based Disparities in Healthy Life Expectancy Among U.S. Non-Hispanic Whites, 2000-2010. %A Cantu, Phillip A %A Connor M Sheehan %A Sasson, Isaac %A Mark D Hayward %K Disability %K Education %K Healthy life expectancy %K Mortality %X

OBJECTIVES: To examine changes in Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) against the backdrop of rising mortality among less-educated white Americans during the first decade of the twenty-first century.

METHODS: This study documented changes in HLE by education among U.S. non-Hispanic whites, using data from the U.S. Multiple Cause of Death public-use files, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample (IPUMS) of the 2000 Census and the 2010 American Community Survey, and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Changes in HLE were decomposed into contributions from: (i) change in age-specific mortality rates; and (ii) change in disability prevalence, measured via Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL).

RESULTS: Between 2000 and 2010, HLE significantly decreased for white men and women with less than 12 years of schooling. In contrast, HLE increased among college-educated white men and women. Declines or stagnation in HLE among less-educated whites reflected increases in disability prevalence over the study period, whereas improvements among the college educated reflected decreases in both age-specific mortality rates and disability prevalence at older ages.

DISCUSSION: Differences in HLE between education groups increased among non-Hispanic whites from 2000 to 2010. In fact, education-based differences in HLE were larger than differences in total life expectancy. Thus, the lives of less-educated whites were not only shorter, on average, compared with their college-educated counterparts, but they were also more burdened with disability.

%B The Journals of Gerontology, Series B %V 76 %P 319-329 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1093/geronb/gbz145 %0 Journal Article %J SSM - Population Health %D 2021 %T The relationship between educational attainment and hospitalizations among middle-aged and older adults in the United States %A Dahai Yue %A Ninez Ponce %A Jack Needleman %A Susan L Ettner %K Education %K gender %K Hospitalization %K Race/ethnicity %X Background There has been little research on the relationship between education and healthcare utilization, especially for racial/ethnic minorities. This study aimed to examine the association between education and hospitalizations, investigate the mechanisms, and disaggregate the relationship by gender, race/ethnicity, and age groups. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using data from the 1992–2016 US Health and Retirement Study. The analytic sample consists of 35,451 respondents with 215,724 person-year observations. We employed a linear probability model with standard errors clustered at the respondent level and accounted for attrition bias using an inverse probability weighting approach. Results On average, compared to having an education less than high school, having a college degree or above was significantly associated with an 8.37 pp (95% CI, −9.79 pp to −7.95 pp) lower probability of being hospitalized, and having education of high school or some college was related to 3.35 pp (95% CI, −4.57 pp to −2.14 pp) lower probability. The association slightly attenuated after controlling for income but dramatically reduced once holding health conditions constant. Specifically, given the same health status and childhood environment conditions, compared to those with less than high school degree, college graduates saw a 1.79 pp (95% CI, −3.16 pp to −0.42 pp) lower chance of being hospitalized, but the association for high school graduates became indistinguishable from zero. Additionally, the association was larger for females, whites, and those younger than 78. The association was statistically significantly smaller for black college graduates than their white counterparts, even when health status is held constant. Conclusions Educational attainment is a strong predictor of hospitalizations for middle-aged and older US adults. Health mediates most of the education-hospitalization gradients. The heterogeneous results across age, gender, race, and ethnicity groups should inform further research on health disparities. %B SSM - Population Health %V 15 %P 100918 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100918 %0 Journal Article %J International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry %D 2021 %T The role of education and income for cognitive functioning in old age: A cross-country comparison. %A Rodriguez, Francisca S %A Hofbauer, Lena M %A Röhr, Susanne %K cognitive functioning %K Cognitive Reserve %K Cross-country comparison %K deprivation %K Education %K Epidemiology %K Income %K Life-course %K Poverty %K SHARE %X

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have shown that higher education promotes cognitive health. This effect, however, is embedded in the living conditions of a particular country. Since it is not clear to what extent the country and its specific living standards are necessary preconditions for the observed effect, we investigated whether the impact of education and income on cognitive functioning differs between countries.

METHODS: Analyses were based on harmonized data from the World Health Organization's multi-country Study on global AGEing and adult health (WHO SAGE), the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)) of over 85,000 individuals aged 50 years and older. Analyses were conducted via multivariate regression analyses and structural equation modelling adjusted for age, gender, marital status, health status, and depression.

RESULTS: The effect of education was twice as large as the effect of income on cognitive functioning and indirectly moderated the effect of income on cognitive functioning. The effect sizes varied strongly between countries. The country's gross domestic product per capita seems to influence cognitive functioning.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that education has a dominant effect on cognitive functioning in people aged 50 years and older, which might even offset the adverse implications of living with low income on cognitive health. Therefore, expanding efforts to achieve universal education are essential to mitigate health disparities due to low income and early life disadvantages, including chances for good cognitive functioning over the life-span. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

%B International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry %V 36 %P 1908-1921 %G eng %N 12 %R 10.1002/gps.5613 %0 Web Page %D 2021 %T USC studies show that clean air matters for a healthy brain %A Miller, Jenesse %K Air quality %K Cognition %K Education %X Researchers say their studies on air pollution and cognitive decline — one involving humans and one with mice — provide evidence that cleaner air may reduce risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias. %B Health %I USC News %G eng %U https://news.usc.edu/192884/clean-air-brain-health-alzheimers-pollution-usc-research/ %0 Newspaper Article %B Financial Times %D 2021 %T ‘We need people to know the ABC of finance’: facing up to the financial literacy crisis %A Johnson, Miles %K Education %K Financial literacy %B Financial Times %C London %G eng %U https://www.ft.com/content/b6a8107c-99f4-4a43-8adc-9686e6bd603e %0 Journal Article %J SSM - Population Health %D 2020 %T Cognitive impairment in the U.S.: Lifetime risk, age at onset, and years impaired %A Jo Mhairi Hale %A Daniel C Schneider %A Neil K Mehta %A Mikko Myrskylä %K cognitive impairment %K Dementia %K Education %K Health Disparities %K Race/ethnicity %X Prior studies have analyzed the burden of cognitive impairment, but often use potentially biased prevalence-based methods or measure only years lived with impairment, without estimating other relevant metrics. We use the Health and Retirement Study (1998–2014; n = 29,304) and the preferred incidence-based Markov-chain models to assess three key measures of the burden of cognitive impairment: lifetime risk, mean age at onset, and number of years lived impaired. We analyze both mild and severe cognitive impairment (dementia) and gender, racial/ethnic, and educational variation in impairment. Our results paint a multi-dimensional picture of cognitive health, presenting the first comprehensive analysis of the burden of cognitive impairment for the U.S. population age 50 and older. Approximately two out of three Americans experience some level of cognitive impairment at an average age of approximately 70 years. For dementia, lifetime risk for women (men) is 37% (24%) and mean age at onset 83 (79) years. Women can expect to live 4.2 years with mild impairment and 3.2 with dementia, men 3.5 and 1.8 years. A critical finding is that for the most advantaged groups (i.e., White and/or higher educated), cognitive impairment is both delayed and compressed toward the very end of life. In contrast, despite the shorter lives of disadvantaged subgroups (Black and/or lower educated), they experience a younger age of onset, higher lifetime risk, and more years cognitively impaired. For example, men with at least an Associate degree have 21% lifetime dementia risk, compared to 35% among men with less than high school education. White women have 6 years of cognitively-impaired life expectancy, compared to 12 and 13 years among Black women and Latinas. These educational and racial/ethnic gradients highlight the very uneven burden of cognitive impairment. Further research is required to identify the mechanisms driving these disparities in cognitive impairment. %B SSM - Population Health %V 11 %P 100577 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100577 %0 Journal Article %J Health Policy %D 2020 %T Comparing the education gradient in health deterioration among the elderly in six OECD countries %A Aurelie Côté-Sergent %A Raquel Fonseca %A Erin Strumpf %K Education %K Health deterioration %K Older ages %X Inequalities in health by educational attainment are persistent both over time and across countries. However, their magnitudes, evolution, and main drivers are not necessarily consistent across jurisdictions. We examine the health deterioration-education gradient among older adults in the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, including how it changes over time between 2004 and 2010. Using longitudinal survey data, we first assess how rates of health deterioration in terms of poor health, difficulties with activities of daily living, and chronic conditions vary by educational attainment. We find systematic differences in rates of health deterioration, as well as in the health deterioration-education gradients, across countries. We then examine how potential confounders, including demographic characteristics, income, health care utilisation and health behaviours, affect the health deterioration-education gradient within countries over time. We demonstrate that while adjusting for confounders generally diminishes the health deterioration-education gradient, the impacts of these variables vary somewhat across countries. Our findings suggest that determinants of, and policy levers to affect, the health deterioration-education gradient likely vary across countries and health systems. %B Health Policy %V 124 %P 326 - 335 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851018302537 %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.12.015 %0 Journal Article %J Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %D 2020 %T Depression in Later Life: The Role of Adult Children's College Education for Older Parents' Mental Health in the United States. %A Jenjira J Yahirun %A Connor M Sheehan %A Krysia N Mossakowski %K Adult children %K Depressive symptoms %K Education %X

Objectives: Research on the socioeconomic gradient in mental health links disadvantaged family background with subsequent symptoms of depression, demonstrating the "downstream" effect of parental resources on children's mental health. This study takes a different approach by evaluating the "upstream" influence of adult children's educational attainment on parents' depressive symptoms.

Methods: Using longitudinal data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N=106,517 person-years), we examine whether children's college attainment influences their parents' mental health in later life and whether this association increases with parental age. We also assess whether the link between children's college completion and parents' depression differs by parents' own education.

Results: Parents with children who completed college have significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than parents without college-educated children, although the gap between parents narrows with age. In addition, at baseline, parents with less than a high school education were more positively affected by their children's college completion than parents who themselves had a college education, a finding which lends support to theories of resource substitution.

Discussion: Offspring education is an overlooked resource that can contribute to mental health disparities among older adults in a country with unequal access to college educations.

%B Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30412237?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/geronb/gby135 %0 Thesis %B Health Policy and Management %D 2020 %T Educational Attainment and Hospital Admissions: New Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study %A Dahai Yue %K Aging %K Attrition %K Causal inference %K Education %K Health Economics %K Hospitalization %X Research Objective: Education is one of the most significant correlates of health. However, the extent to which this relationship is causal is yet to be established. Additionally, there is a dearth of studies investigating the effect of education on health care utilization. This dissertation’s overall objective was to examine the relationship between educational attainment and hospitalizations using a large longitudinal database and more efficient estimation methods. The three specific aims were: 1) to investigate determinants of attrition due to death and non-response in the Health and Retirement Study (first study); 2) to examine the association between education and hospitalizations based on a pre-set conceptual model and assess the impact of attrition on the estimation of the education-hospitalization relationship (second study); and 3) to determine the causal effect of education on hospitalizations (third study). Methods: The primary data source was the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with restricted files, including state-identifiers from 1992 to 2016. This database was further merged with data consisting of 1919-1973 state-level compulsory schooling laws and the quality of schooling measures to study the causal effects of education on hospitalizations. I used a multinomial logistic regression model to investigate the determinants of attrition status in 2016 as well as the between-wave attrition. I then constructed weights to account for attrition bias in the relationship between education and hospitalizations using the inverse probability weighting approach. To determine the causal effects of education on hospitalizations, I used compulsory schooling laws as instruments for years of completed education. A Post-Double-Selection method based on the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regressions was used to select optimal instruments and a parsimonious set of controls, which yields more efficient but still consistent instrumental variable (IV) estimators. Population Studied: The study population included eligible respondents and their spouses in the HRS survey from 1992 to 2016. The first study excluded the Later Baby Boomer cohort that entered the HRS in 2016. The second study focused on those born in the United States. The third study further restricted the study population to white respondents who had high school or lower educational attainment and were born in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia (excluding Hawaii and Alaska) between 1905 and 1959. Results: Respondents who were female, white, Hispanic, married, who had more living children, who had more years of education, and who were healthier, and financially better off during childhood were more likely to remain in the survey and respond in every follow-up wave. These variables had different impacts on attrition due to death and attrition due to non-response. On average, compared to individuals with less than a high school education, individuals with a high school education or some college had a 3.37 percentage point (pp) (95% CI, -3.93 pp to -2.80 pp) lower likelihood of being hospitalized, and individuals with a college degree or above had an 8.39 pp (95% CI, -9.10 pp to -7.67 pp) lower likelihood of hospitalization over the past two years, controlling for demographics, childhood socioeconomic conditions, childhood health status, state-of-birth fixed effects, year-of-birth fixed effects, state-specific linear time trends, and accounting for attrition bias. After age 78, the probability of hospitalization for those with a high school education was not significantly different from that of those with less than a high school education; the estimate was -0.96 pp and not statistically significant. The preferred IV estimator (LASSO-IV estimator) implies that a one year increase in schooling lowered the probability of two-year hospitalization by 6.5 pp (95% CI: - 9.1 pp to -3.9 pp), which is much larger than that of the OLS estimator (-1.1 pp, 95% CI: -1.4 pp to -0.7 pp) without correcting for the endogeneity of education. Conclusions: Individuals with more years of schooling had a lower probability of two-year hospitalizations compared to their counterparts with fewer years of education. These effects would be underestimated if attrition bias was not accounted for. Moreover, age modifies the relationship. After age 78, the effect of a high school or some college education became indistinguishable from zero, but the effect of higher education remained statistically significant. Importantly, when accounting for the endogeneity of education, I found a relatively large and significant effect of education on hospitalizations. Implications for Research and Policy: My main finding that educational attainment has a large effect on hospitalizations contributes to the growing literature on the social determinants of health. Results from this study should inform policymakers and suggest that providing more health care resources to the low-education group might be an effective means for reducing health disparities. It also provides rigorous evidence for health care payment reforms that consider incorporating education into the risk-adjustment models. In a broader context, it suggests that investing in the educational system could be a more cost-effective way to reduce intensive health care use and health care costs. Furthermore, the analytic framework constructed in this dissertation to account for attrition bias and produce efficient estimators by selecting optimal instruments and controls with LASSO regression models should guide further research for evaluating the effects of education in other similar studies, and, more generally, longitudinal studies involving many instruments and/or many controls. %B Health Policy and Management %I University of California, Los Angeles %C Los Angelas %V Doctor of Philosophy %@ 9798617006355 %G eng %U https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8t8287fr %0 Journal Article %J Biodemography and Social Biology %D 2020 %T Educational mobility and telomere length in middle-aged and older adults: testing three alternative hypotheses. %A Cuevas, Adolfo G %A Greatorex-Voith, Siobhan %A Abuelezam, Nadia %A Eckert, Natalie %A Shervin Assari %K Education %K social mobility %K Telomere length %X

Critical period, social mobility, and social accumulation are three hypotheses that may explain how educational mobility impacts health. Thus far, there is little evidence on how these processes are associated with biological aging as measured by telomere length. Using cross-sectional data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study, we examined the association between educational mobility (parental education and contemporaneous education) and telomere length. The final model is adjusted for sociodemographic factors and socioeconomic status, childhood adversity, and health behaviors/risk factors, as well as depressive symptoms. A total of 1,894 participants were included in the main analyses. High parental education was associated with longer telomere length in a fully adjusted model (B = 0.03, CI [0.002,0.07]). Downwardly mobile individuals (high parental education and low contemporaneous education) had longer telomere length compared to stably low individuals in a fully adjusted model (B = 0.05, CI [0.004,0.09]). There was support for the critical period hypothesis and partial support for the change hypothesis. There was no evidence to support the social accumulation hypothesis. Prospective studies are needed to understand the mechanism that can help further explain the association between educational mobility and telomere length.

%B Biodemography and Social Biology %V 66 %P 220-235 %G eng %N 3-4 %R 10.1080/19485565.2021.1983760 %0 Journal Article %J Psychology & Health %D 2020 %T An examination of potential mediators of the relationship between polygenic scores of BMI and waist circumference and phenotypic adiposity %A Yannick Stephan %A Angelina R Sutin %A Martina Luchetti %A Pauline Caille %A Antonio Terracciano %K BMI %K depression %K Education %K Personality %K Physical activity %K polygenic score %K Waist Circumference %X AbstractObjective: The present study examined whether physical activity, personality, cognition, education, and depressive symptoms mediate the association between polygenic scores (PGS) for body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference and the corresponding phenotypic adiposity measures.Design: Participants were 9,139 individuals aged 50 to 107 years (57% women; Mean Age: 68.17, SD: 10.06) from the Health and Retirement Study who were genotyped. Trained staff measured their height, weight, and waist circumference, and participants answered questions on physical activity, personality, education, cognitive function, and depressive symptoms.Main Outcome Measures: BMI and waist circumference.Results: A higher PGS for both BMI and waist circumference were related to higher phenotypic BMI and waist circumference, respectively, in part through their association with lower physical activity, conscientiousness, education, and higher depressive symptoms but not cognition. The mediators accounted for 6.6% of the association between PGS and BMI and 9.6% of the association between PGS and waist circumference.Conclusion: The present study provides new evidence on the multiple, distinct pathways through which genetic propensity to higher BMI and waist circumference may lead to higher adiposity in adulthood. Individuals with a higher genetic predisposition to obesity may gain more weight through less adaptive behavioral, personality and educational profiles. %B Psychology & Health %G eng %U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32275177 %9 Journal %R 10.1080/08870446.2020.1743839 %0 Journal Article %J Innovation in Aging %D 2020 %T Financial Literacy in the Family Context: The Role of Spousal Education and Gender Among Older Couples %A Li, Yang %K Education %K Financial literacy %K spouse %X Despite recent advances in the literature on the association between one’s own education and financial literacy, the role of the family context in financial literacy has received limited attention. I examine whether spousal education is associated with one’s own financial literacy among older couples and whether this association differs by gender. Using data from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (n=1,220), I employ a multilevel actor-partner interdependence model to examine the cross-partner effect of spousal education on own financial literacy among older couples. I analyze a set of regression models on pairwise data to estimate the moderating effect of gender. I find that having a college-educated spouse was associated with a higher likelihood of being financially literate and that wives’ education attainment was associated with a higher likelihood of financial literacy for husbands. Understanding the role of spousal education in late-life financial literacy adds to our knowledge about the role of the family context as related to individual financial knowledge and skills. Older adults may acquire financial literacy within the family, such as learning from a spouse. %B Innovation in Aging %V 4 %P 475 %@ 2399-5300 %G eng %N Suppl 1 %R 10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1538 %0 Journal Article %J LOGOS: A Journal of Undergraduate Research %D 2020 %T Gender Differences in the Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Episodic Memory among Older Adults %A Perkins, Austin %A Kyler J. Sherman-Wilkins %K Cognition %K Education %K gender %K socioeconomic status %X Though research has shown that socioeconomic status influences memory in later life, there is a paucity of research on how gender may shape the relationship between socioeconomic status and memory declines associated with advancing age. This study draws on data from the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (n = 8,614) and estimates a series of OLS regression models to examine how memory is impacted by income and education, two commonly used indicators of socioeconomic status. Moreover, this study examines how these direct effects are moderated by gender. Results indicate that women display better memory at older ages than men, while higher income and education are both associated with better memory. Additionally, we find evidence that gender moderates the relationship between education and memory such that men benefit more from education than women. There was no significant gender difference in the effect of income on memory. We end with a discussion of study strengths and limitations as well as directions for future research. %B LOGOS: A Journal of Undergraduate Research %V 13 %P 97-113 %G eng %U https://www.missouristate.edu/Assets/honorslogos/LOGOS_Vol_13.pdf#page=82 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of the European Economic Association %D 2020 %T Genes, Education, and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study %A Nicholas Papageorge %A Thom, Kevin %K Childhood %K Education %K labor earnings %K polygenic score %K socioeconomic status %X Recent advances have led to the discovery of specific genetic variants that predict educational attainment. We study how these variants, summarized as a linear index—known as a polygenic score—are associated with human capital accumulation and labor market outcomes in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We present two main sets of results. First, we find evidence that the genetic factors measured by this score interact strongly with childhood socioeconomic status in determining educational outcomes. In particular, although the polygenic score predicts higher rates of college graduation on average, this relationship is substantially stronger for individuals who grew up in households with higher socioeconomic status relative to those who grew up in poorer households. Second, the polygenic score predicts labor earnings even after adjusting for completed education, with larger returns in more recent decades. These patterns suggest that the genetic traits that promote education might allow workers to better accommodate ongoing skill biased technological change. Consistent with this interpretation, we find a positive association between the polygenic score and nonroutine analytic tasks that have benefited from the introduction of new technologies. Nonetheless, the college premium remains a dominant determinant of earnings differences at all levels of the polygenic score. Given the role of childhood SES in predicting college attainment, this raises concerns about wasted potential arising from limited household resources. %B Journal of the European Economic Association %V 18 %P 1351 - 1399 %@ 1542-4766 %G eng %N 3 %R 10.1093/jeea/jvz072 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Political Economy %D 2020 %T Genetic Endowments and Wealth Inequality. %A Barth, Daniel %A Papageorge, Nicholas W %A Thom, Kevin %K beliefs %K Education %K Genetics %K Inequality %K portfolio decisions %K Wealth %X

We show that genetic endowments linked to educational attainment strongly and robustly predict wealth at retirement. The estimated relationship is not fully explained by flexibly controlling for education and labor income. We therefore investigate a host of additional mechanisms that could account for the gene-wealth gradient, including inheritances, mortality, risk preferences, portfolio decisions, beliefs about the probabilities of macroeconomic events, and planning horizons. We provide evidence that genetic endowments related to human capital accumulation are associated with wealth not only through educational attainment and labor income, but also through a facility with complex financial decision-making.

%B Journal of Political Economy %V 128 %P 1474-1522 %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1086/705415 %0 Report %D 2020 %T Genetic Fortune: Winning or Losing Education, Income, and Health %A Kweon, Hyeokmoon %A Burik, Casper %A Richard Karlsson Linnér %A de Vlaming, Ronald %A Okbay, Aysu %A Martschenko, Daphne %A Harden, Kathryn %A DiPrete, Thomas %A Philipp D Koellinger %K Education %K Genetics %K health %K heritability %K Income %K Inequality %K polygenic score %X We study the effects of genetic endowments on inequalities in education, income, and health. Specifically, we conduct the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of individual income, using data from individuals of European ancestries. We find that ≈10% of the variance in occupational wages can be attributed to genetic similarities between individuals who are only very distantly related to each other. Our GWAS (N = 282,963) identifies 45 approximately independent genetic loci for occupational wages, each with a tiny effect size (R 2<0.04%). An aggregated genetic score constructed from these GWAS results accounts for ≈1% of the variance in self-reported income in two independent samples (N = 29,440) and improves upon the variance captured by a genetic score obtained from previous GWAS results for educational attainment. A one-standard-deviation increase in our genetic score for occupational wages is associated with a 6–8% increase in self-reported hourly wages. We exploit random genetic differences between ~35,000 biological siblings to show that (i) roughly half of the covariance between our genetic score and socioeconomic outcomes is causal, (ii) genetic luck for higher income is linked with better health outcomes in late adulthood, and (iii) having a college degree partly mediates this relationship. We also demonstrate that the returns to schooling remain substantial even after controlling for genetic confounds, with an average of 8–11% higher hourly wages for each additional year of education obtained in a US sample. Thus, the implications of genetic endowments are malleable, for example, via policies targeting education. %B Tinbergen Institue Discussion Paper %I Tinbergen Institute %C Amsterdam %G eng %U https://papers.tinbergen.nl/20053.pdf %0 Journal Article %J Economics & Human Biology %D 2020 %T How Children's Education Affects Caregiving: Evidence from Parent’s Last Years of Life %A Nan Jiang %A Neeraj Kaushal %K Aging %K Caregiving %K Education %K intergenerational support %X Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (1994–2012), we studied the association between adult children’s education and financial and caregiving support they provided to their aging parents in the last years of the parents’ life. We controlled for the circumstances of parents’ death, their functional limitations, whether they were in long-term care or home-care settings in the last year of their life, and in some models, various measures of parents’ self-reported health. Estimates suggest that having a college degree and above has a significantly positive association with monetary transfers and knowledge support children provide to their parents. Estimates remained robust in models that included parent fixed effects. Evidence of children’s education on instrumental support to parents was nonlinear in that although some college education increased instrumental support, but, a college degree did not have a statistically significant effect. Gender did not play a moderating role in the relationship between offspring education and support towards parents. %B Economics & Human Biology %G eng %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2020.100875 %0 Journal Article %J The Reporter %D 2020 %T Journey across a Century of Women %A Goldin, Claudia %K career %K Education %K Family %K women %X My talk will take us on a Journey across a Century of Women — a 120-year odyssey of generations of college-graduate women from a time when they were only able to have either a family or a career (sometimes a job), to now, when they anticipate having both a family and a career. More women than ever before are within striking distance of these goals. %B The Reporter %G eng %U https://www.nber.org/reporter/2020number3/journey-across-century-women %N 3 %0 Journal Article %J Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco %D 2020 %T Longitudinal and Reciprocal Relationships Between Psychological Well-Being and Smoking %A Lappan, S. %A Thorne, C.B. %A Long, D. %A Hendricks, P.S. %K Adult %K Aged %K Article %K Education %K Female %K human %K Life Satisfaction %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Optimism %K people by smoking status %K psychological well-being %K Retirement %K Smoking cessation %K structural equation modeling %X INTRODUCTION: Smoking cessation treatments currently succeed at a rate of approximately 20%-30%, underscoring the importance of exploring factors that might increase intervention effectiveness. Although negative affect has been studied extensively in relation to smoking cessation, psychological well-being (PWB; eg, life satisfaction, optimism, positive affect, purpose in life) has received little attention. This study tested longitudinal and reciprocal relationships between PWB and smoking status in older adults. METHODS: Panel data were obtained from the biennial, longitudinal Health and Retirement Study. Using structural equation modeling, we developed cross-lagged models to examine the relationships of PWB in 2006 with smoking status in 2010 and of smoking status in 2006 with PWB in 2010 while controlling for covariates (Ns = 2939-4230, 55% women, 89% white, mean age = 64 years, mean years of education = 13, 25% smokers in 2006 and 21% smokers in 2010). Separate cross-lagged models were developed for each of the PWB variables: life satisfaction, optimism, positive affect, and purpose in life. RESULTS: Greater life satisfaction (standardized path coefficient = -0.04), optimism (standardized path coefficient = -0.07), and positive affect (standardized path coefficient = -0.08) in 2006 predicted a reduced likelihood of smoking in 2010. Being a smoker in 2006 predicted lower life satisfaction (standardized path coefficient = -0.25), optimism (standardized path coefficient = -0.10), positive affect (standardized path coefficient = -0.10), and purpose in life (standardized path coefficient = -0.13) in 2010. CONCLUSIONS: Findings warrant further exploration of the relationships between PWB and smoking, and support the incorporation of PWB-boosting components into existing treatments. IMPLICATIONS: Given the relatively low success rate of current smoking cessation treatments, the present results suggest that increasing PWB might promote abstinence and therefore warrant consideration as a focus of future cessation treatment research. Moreover, these results suggest that smoking might inhibit PWB, illuminating a negative consequence of smoking not previously identified. Helping smokers increase their PWB may benefit them beyond promoting cessation and contribute to a flourishing society. These results warrant further investigation of PWB and smoking, and support the continued evaluation of PWB-boosting components in smoking cessation treatments. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. %B Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco %V 22 %P 18-23 %G eng %R 10.1093/ntr/nty185 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Aging and Health %D 2020 %T Major discrimination experiences, education, and genes. %A Aniruddha Das %K Discrimination %K Education %K Genetics %K Racial/ethnic differences %X

OBJECTIVES: Rather than acting as a buffer, educational attainment has a known positive linkage with major experiences of lifetime discrimination. Recently established genetic roots of education, then, may also influence such reports. The current study examined these patterns.

METHODS: Data were from the 2010 wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Polygenic scores indexed one's genetic propensity for more education. Mediation analysis was through counterfactual methods.

RESULTS: Among Whites as well as Blacks, genetic antecedents of education also elevated discrimination reports. Part of this influence was channeled through education. At least among Whites, direct effects were also found.

DISCUSSION: Major discrimination experiences seem partly rooted in genes. Mechanisms are tentatively suggested. Direct genetic influences, in particular, indicate potential confounding of previously estimated linkages between discrimination and health or life course factors. Given the range of these prior results, and their implications for healthy aging, investigation of these possibilities is needed.

%B Journal of Aging and Health %V 32 %P 753-763 %G eng %N 7-8 %R 10.1177/0898264319851661 %0 Report %D 2020 %T Making it Work: Transitions From Physically Demanding Employment in Advanced Age %A Hyland, Megan %K Education %K employment status %K work conditions %X As workers age, they may find it increasingly difficult to sustain employment, particularly if their work is physically demanding. While some workers transition to less onerous roles in the later stage of their careers, others have few employment alternatives. This analysis explores the interaction between older adults’ education and transitions from physically demanding jobs. Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, I track changes in employment status and work conditions for the original cohort of interviewees until retirement. Descriptive social sequence analysis reveals that physical demands are most prevalent in the careers of older men and women without a college education. Transitions to less demanding roles feature most clearly in the career sequences of the most educated workers. Using regression analysis, however, I find that workers in physically demanding jobs are no less likely to be employed than their similarly educated peers in less demanding roles. Further, for workers with similar job demands, employment probabilities are comparable across education levels. Overall, my findings suggest that educational attainment can explain differences in the demands older workers face, but does not affect the probability of continued employment in the pre-retirement years. %B Working Paper %I Cornell University %C Ithaca, NY %G eng %U https://ardraw.policyresearchinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Hyland_Cohort-3_Final-Paper.pdf %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Asian Sociology %D 2020 %T Parental Education and Self-Rated Health among Older Adults: Evidence from the U.S. and South Korea %A SeungAh H. Lee %A Kimberly J. Johnson %A Jiyoung Lyu %K Education %K KLoSA %K Self-rated health %X The purpose of this cross-national study is to investigate the association between parental education, an important early-life socioeconomic indicator, and self-rated health (SRH) among older adults in Western (U.S.) and Eastern (Korea) countries. The study sample is drawn from nationally representative data collected by the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the 2016 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA). The final sample consists of 9,610 HRS and 4,425 KLoSA respondents age 65 or older. Hierarchical logistic regression models are used to examine the association between paternal and maternal education and SRH. The results show that low maternal education is significantly associated with fair/poor SRH in the U.S., while low paternal education is associated with fair/poor SRH among older Korean adults, controlling for other covariates. The disparity found in parental education may be due to the cultural differences in patriarchal values and the rate of change in gender expectations and economic development. %B Journal of Asian Sociology %V 49 %P 527–546 %G eng %R 10.21588/dns.2020.49.4.007 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Economics and Social Measurement %D 2020 %T Recent trends in wealth inequality among older Americans in two surveys %A Kezdi, Gabor %A Margaret Lay %A David R Weir %K Education %K net wealth %K race disparity %K social security wealth %K Wealth Inequality %X We document changes in wealth inequality across American households with a member aged 55 or older, comparing data in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) with that in the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) between 1998 and 2016. We examine net wealth including housing, financial and nonfinancial assets and debt, without the cash value of insurances, DB pensions or Social Security wealth. We find very similar distributions of net wealth in the two surveys between the 25th and 90th percentiles, but substantially higher wealth in the SCF at the top of the distribution. Both surveys show an increase in wealth inequality between 1998 and 2016, first mostly due to increased wealth at the top, and, after 2012, due to an increase in the share of households with very little wealth as well. Both surveys agree that wealth inequality by education and race, already substantial in 1998, increased further by 2016. %B Journal of Economics and Social Measurement %V 45 %P 215-236 %G eng %N 3-4 %R 10.3233/jem-210477 %0 Report %D 2020 %T Replication Data for: Legal Access to Reproductive Control Technology, Women's Education, and Earnings Approaching Retirement %A Jason Lindo %A Mayra Pineda-Torres %A David Pritchard %A Hedieh Tajali %K abortion %K contraception %K Earnings %K Education %K Social Security %X We investigate how historical changes in contraception and abortion access impact women’s long-run outcomes. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study and an identification strategy that leverages variation in exposure to legal changes in access across cohorts born in the same states during the 1960s and 1970s. We follow the methodology of Bailey, Hershbein, and Miller (2012), who used the National Longitudinal Survey of Young Women and documented significant increases in contraception use at ages 18-20 associated with unmarried women’s ability to consent for contraception at such ages. They also documented increased educational attainment and increased earnings in women’s 30s and 40s associated with this confidential access to contraception. Our analysis revisits the effects on education and earnings. We also investigate the sensitivity of the estimated impacts to the legal coding and control variables used in Myers’ (2017) study of the effects on fertility and marriage. The results for educational attainment align with prior work but are not statistically significant. The results for earnings indicate increases in the probability of working in a Social Security (SS) covered job in women’s 20s and 30s associated with early access to contraception and abortion, but we find no evidence of positive effects on women’s earnings in their 50s. %B AEA Papers and Proceedings %I American Economic Association %C Nashville, TN %P 231–35 %G eng %R https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20201108 %0 Journal Article %J The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %D 2020 %T Spousal education and cognitive functioning in later life. %A Minle Xu %K Cognition & Reasoning %K Education %K Marriage %X

Objectives: Numerous studies have documented the relationship between education and cognitive functioning at the individual level. Yet few studies have examined whether a spouse's education spills over to influence the other spouse's cognitive functioning. This study, therefore, investigated the association between spousal education and cognitive functioning, the pathways that may account for this association, and gender differences in this association.

Method: Growth curve models were analyzed by using longitudinal couple data from the Health and Retirement Study (N=5,846 individuals).

Results: More years of spousal education is associated with higher level of cognitive functioning at age 65 (γ000=.0532, 95% confidence interval [CI]=.0163.0901) and slower decline in cognitive functioning in later adulthood (γ100 =.0054, 95% CI=.0026.0082). The positive association between spousal education and the level of cognitive functioning at age 65 was fully explained by economic resources. The association of spousal education with the rate of cognitive decline decreased but remained significant after controlling for economic resources and health behaviors (γ100 =.0043, 95% CI =.0014.0072). The association between spousal education and cognitive functioning was similar for men and women.

Discussion: Findings suggest that more years of spousal education may slow decline in cognitive functioning for men and women in later life.

%B The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %V 75 %P e141-e150 %G eng %N 7 %R 10.1093/geronb/gbz014 %0 Newspaper Article %B Nebraska Today %D 2020 %T Study: Racial disparities exist in cognitive health expectancies, despite educational attainment %A Deann Gayman %K Alzheimer disease %K Dementia %K Education %K race %X There are more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease, and 50 million with other dementias, according to figures from the Alzheimer’s Association. Research into these diseases and how to prevent them is key as more and more Americans live longer, raising their risk for developing cognitive impairment. %B Nebraska Today %C Lincoln, NE %G eng %U https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/study-racial-disparities-exist-in-cognitive-health-expectancies-despite/ %0 Journal Article %J Demography %D 2020 %T What Factors Explain the Decline in Widowed Women’s Poverty? %A Alicia H. Munnell %A Geoffrey T. Sanzenbacher %A Alice Zulkarnain %K Education %K Labor force participation %K Marital selection %K Widows’ poverty %X Historically, women in widowhood in the United States have been vulnerable, with high rates of poverty. However, over the past several decades, their poverty rate has fallen considerably. In this article, we look at why this decline occurred and whether it will continue. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study linked to Social Security administrative earnings and benefit records, we address these questions by exploring three factors that could have contributed to this decline: (1) women’s rising levels of education; (2) their increased attachment to the labor force; and (3) increasing marital selection, reflecting that whereas marriage used to be equally distributed, it is becoming less common among those with lower socioeconomic status. The project decomposes the share of the decline in poverty into contributions by each of these factors and also projects the role of these factors in the future. The results indicate that increases in education and work experience have driven most of the decline in widows’ poverty to date, but that marital selection will likely play a large role in a continuing decline in the future. Still, even after these effects play out, poverty among widows will remain well above that of married women. %B Demography %8 2020/09/10 %@ 1533-7790 %G eng %R https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-020-00915-2 %0 Report %D 2020 %T Why Does the Importance of Education for Health Differ across the United States? %A Blakelee R Kemp %A Jennifer Karas Montez %K Education %K health %X The positive association between educational attainment and adult health (“the gradient”) is stronger in some areas of the United States than in others. Explanations for the geographic pattern have not been rigorously investigated. Grounded in a contextual and life-course perspective, the aim of this study is to assess childhood circumstances (e.g., childhood health, compulsory schooling laws) and adult circumstances (e.g., wealth, lifestyles, economic policies) as potential explanations. Using data on U.S.-born adults aged 50 to 59 years at baseline (n = 13,095) and followed for up to 16 years across the 1998 to 2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, the authors examined how and why educational gradients in morbidity, functioning, and mortality vary across nine U.S. regions. The findings indicate that the gradient is stronger in some areas than others partly because of geographic differences in childhood socioeconomic conditions and health, but mostly because of geographic differences in adult circumstances such as wealth, lifestyles, and economic and tobacco policies. %I American Sociological Association %G eng %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2378023119899545 %0 Report %D 2020 %T Working and disability expectancies at old ages: The role of childhood circumstances and education %A Angelo Lorenti %A Christian Dudel %A Jo Mhairi Hale %A Mikko Myrskylä %K Disability %K early childhood %K Education %K length of working life %K Markov chains %K Race/ethnicity %K USA %X The ability to work at older ages depends on health and education. Both accumulate starting very early in life. We assess how childhood disadvantages combine with education to affect working and health trajectories. Applying multistate period life tables to data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for the period 2008-2014, we estimate how the residual life expectancy at age 50 is distributed in number of years of work and disability, by number of childhood disadvantages, gender, and race/ethnicity. Our findings indicate that number of childhood disadvantages is negatively associated with work and positively with disability, irrespective of gender and race/ethnicity. Childhood disadvantages intersect with low education resulting in shorter lives, and redistributing life years from work to disability. Among the highly educated, health and work differences between groups of childhood disadvantage are small. Combining multistate models and inverse probability weighting, we show that the return of high education is greater among the most disadvantaged. %B MPIDR Working Papers %I Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research %C Rostock, Germany %G eng %R 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2020-006 %0 Journal Article %J Alzheimers Dement (N Y) %D 2019 %T Analysis of dementia in the US population using Medicare claims: Insights from linked survey and administrative claims data. %A Chen, Yi %A Tysinger, Bryan %A Eileen M. Crimmins %A Julie M Zissimopoulos %K Cognitive Ability %K Dementia %K Education %K Medicare claims %K Medicare linkage %K Racial/ethnic differences %X

Introduction: Medicare claims data may be a rich data source for tracking population dementia rates. Insufficient understanding of completeness of diagnosis, and for whom, limits their use.

Methods: We analyzed agreement in prevalent and incident dementia based on cognitive assessment from the Health and Retirement Study for persons with linked Medicare claims from 2000 to 2008 (N = 10,450 persons). Multinomial logistic regression identified sociodemographic factors associated with disagreement.

Results: Survey-based cognitive tests and claims-based dementia diagnosis yielded equal prevalence estimates, yet only half were identified by both measures. Race and education were associated with disagreement. Eighty-five percent of respondents with incident dementia measured by cognitive decline received a diagnosis or died within the study period, with lower odds among blacks and Hispanics than among whites.

Discussions: Claims data are valuable for tracking dementia in the US population and improve over time. Delayed diagnosis may underestimate rates within black and Hispanic populations.

%B Alzheimers Dement (N Y) %V 5 %P 197-207 %8 2019 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31198838?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.trci.2019.04.003 %0 Journal Article %J International journal of epidemiology %D 2019 %T Are younger cohorts in the USA and England ageing better? %A de la Fuente, J. %A Francisco Félix Caballero %A Verdes, E. %A Rodríguez-Artalejo, F. %A Cabello, M. %A de la Torre-Luque, A. %A Albert Sánchez-Niubó %A María Haro, J. %A Ayuso-Mateos, J.L. %A Chatterji, S. %K Aged %K Aging %K Article %K Cohort Analysis %K cultural factor %K Education %K England %K Englishman %K Female %K Health Status %K Household %K human %K human experiment %K human tissue %K longitudinal study %K major clinical study %K Male %K mental capacity %K Retirement %K theoretical study %X BACKGROUND: Whether worldwide increases in life expectancy are accompanied by a better health status is still a debate. People age differently, and there is a need to disentangle whether healthy-ageing pathways can be shaped by cohort effects. This study aims to analyse trends in health status in two large nationally representative samples of older adults from England and the USA. METHODS: The sample comprised 55 684 participants from the first seven waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), and the first 11 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). A common latent health score based on Bayesian multilevel item response theory was used. Two Bayesian mixed-effects multilevel models were used to assess cohort effects on health in ELSA and HRS separately, controlling for the effect of household wealth and educational attainment. RESULTS: Similar ageing trends were found in ELSA (β = -0.311; p < 0.001) and HRS (β = -0.393; p < 0.001). The level of education moderated the life-course effect on health in both ELSA (β = -0.082; p < 0.05) and HRS (β = -0.084; p < 0.05). A birth-year effect was found for those belonging to the highest quintiles of household wealth in both ELSA (β = 0.125; p < 0.001) and HRS (β = 0.170; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Health inequalities have increased in recent cohorts, with the wealthiest participants presenting a better health status in both the USA and English populations. Actions to promote health in the ageing population should consider the increasing inequality scenario, not only by applying highly effective interventions, but also by making them accessible to all members of society. © The Author(s) 2019; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association. %B International journal of epidemiology %V 48 %P 1906-1913 %G eng %R 10.1093/ije/dyz126 %0 Journal Article %J SSM - Population Health %D 2019 %T Changes in depressive symptoms over age among older Americans: Differences by gender, race/ethnicity, education, and birth cohort %A Leah R. Abrams %A Neil K Mehta %K Depressive symptoms %K Education %K Gender Differences %K Racial/ethnic differences %K Women and Minorities %X Despite concerns about recent trends in the health and functioning of older Americans, little is known about dynamics of depression among recent cohorts of U.S. older adults and how these dynamics differ across sociodemographic groups. This study examined sociodemographic differences in mid- and late-life depressive symptoms over age, as well as changes over time. Using nationally representative data from the Health and Retirement Study (1994–2014), we estimated mixed effects models to generate depressive symptoms over age by gender, race/ethnicity, education, and birth cohort in 33,280 adults ages 51–90 years. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 8-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Women compared to men, low compared to high education groups, and racial/ethnic minorities compared to whites exhibited higher depressive symptoms. The largest disparity resulted from education, with those without high school degrees exhibiting over two more predicted depressive symptoms in midlife compared to those with college degrees. Importantly, war babies and baby boomers (born 1942–1959) exhibited slightly higher depressive symptoms with more decreasing symptoms over age than their predecessors (born 1931–1941) at ages 51–65. We additionally observed an age-as-leveler pattern by gender, whereby females compared to males had higher depressive symptomology from ages 51–85, but not at ages 86–90. Our findings have implication for gauging the aging population's overall well-being, for public health policies aimed at reducing health disparities, and for anticipating demand on an array of health and social services. %B SSM - Population Health %V 7 %G eng %N 100399 %! SSM - Population Health %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100399 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of the American Geriatrics Society %D 2019 %T Cognitive Performance Among Older Persons in Japan and the United States %A Saito, Yasuhiko %A Jung K Kim %A Davarian, Shieva %A Hagedorn, Aaron %A Eileen M. Crimmins %K cognitive performance %K Education %K Japan %K Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging %K United States %X OBJECTIVE To compare cognitive performance among Japanese and American persons, aged 68 years and older, using two nationally representative studies and to examine whether differences can be explained by differences in the distribution of risk factors or in their association with cognitive performance. DESIGN Nationally representative studies with harmonized collection of data on cognitive functioning. SETTING Nihon University Japanese Longitudinal Study of Aging and the US Health and Retirement Study. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1953 Japanese adults and 2959 US adults, aged 68 years or older. MEASUREMENTS Episodic memory and arithmetic working memory are measured using immediate and delayed word recall and serial 7s. RESULTS Americans have higher scores on episodic memory than Japanese people (0.72 points on a 20-point scale); however, when education is controlled, American and Japanese people did not differ. Level of working memory was higher in Japan (0.36 on a 5-point scale) than in the United States, and the effect of education on working memory was stronger among Americans than Japanese people. There are no differences over the age of 85 years. CONCLUSION Even with large differences in educational attainment and a strong effect of education on cognitive functioning, the overall differences in cognitive functioning between the United States and Japan are modest. Differences in health appear to have little effect on national differences in cognition. %B Journal of the American Geriatrics Society %G eng %U https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jgs.16163 %R 10.1111/jgs.16163 %0 Journal Article %J Educational Gerontology %D 2019 %T Computer usage and cognitive capability of older adults: Analysis of data from the Health and Retirement Study %A Denise Calhoun %A Lee, Seung Bok %K Cognitive Ability %K Education %K Technology %X As America’s older population continues to grow, more individuals are experiencing cognitive decline in the United States. At the same time, we live in an age where technology has increasingly become an integral part of our daily lives. Although numerous studies have examined cognitive functions of older adults from a diverse range of perspectives, research on the relationship between the technology adoption and adult cognitive capacity has been limited. Using nationally representative data (n = 5,259) from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study analyzed the effect of computer usage on the cognitive capabilities of individuals aged 50 and older in the United States. Findings show that computer use in older adults declines with age but rises for those with higher levels of education. Results also indicate that an increased use of computers is significantly associated with improved cognitive capability, when controlling for age, gender, and years of education. Further research is needed to better understand the patterns of technology adoption among older adults and assess its effects on their cognitive abilities. %B Educational Gerontology %V 45 %P 22-23 %G eng %U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03601277.2019.1575026https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03601277.2019.1575026 %N 1 %! Educational Gerontology %R 10.1080/03601277.2019.1575026 %0 Journal Article %J SSM Population Health %D 2019 %T Differential associations between state-level educational quality and cardiovascular health by race: Early-life exposures and late-life health. %A Anusha M Vable %A Thu T Nguyen %A David Rehkopf %A M. Maria Glymour %A Hamad, Rita %K Cardiovascular health %K Education %K Heart disease %K Late-life Health %K Racial/ethnic differences %X Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are patterned by educational attainment but educational quality is rarely examined. Educational quality differences may help explain racial disparities. Health and Retirement Study respondent data (1992-2014; born 1900-1951) were linked to state- and year-specific educational quality measures when the respondent was 6 years old. State-level educational quality was a composite of state-level school term length, student-to-teacher ratio, and per-pupil expenditure. CVD-related outcomes were self-reported (N = 24,339) obesity, heart disease, stroke, ever-smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and objectively measured (N = 10,704) uncontrolled blood pressure, uncontrolled blood sugar, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and C-reactive protein. Race/ethnicity was classified as White, Black, or Latino. Cox models fit for dichotomous time-to-event outcomes and generalized estimating equations for continuous outcomes were adjusted for individual and state-level confounders. Heterogeneities by race were evaluated using state-level educational quality by race interaction terms; race-pooled, race by educational quality interaction, and race-specific estimates were calculated. In race-pooled analyses, higher state-level educational quality was protective for obesity (HR = 0.92; 95%CI(0.87,0.98)). In race-specific estimates for White Americans, state-level educational quality was protective for high blood pressure (HR = 0.95; 95%CI(0.91,0.99). Differential relationships among Black compared to White Americans were observed for obesity, heart disease, stroke, smoking, high blood pressure, and HDL cholesterol. In race-specific estimates for Black Americans, higher state-level educational quality was protective for obesity (HR = 0.88; 95%CI(0.84,0.93)), but predictive of heart disease (HR = 1.07; 95%CI(1.01,1.12)), stroke (HR = 1.20; 95%CI(1.08,1.32)), and smoking (HR = 1.05; 95%CI(1.02,1.08)). Race-specific hazard ratios for Latino and Black Americans were similar for obesity, stroke, and smoking. Better state-level educational quality had differential associations with CVD by race. Among minorities, better state-level educational quality was predominately associated with poorer CVD outcomes. Results evaluate the 1900-1951 birth cohorts; secular changes in the racial integration of schools since the 1950s, means results may not generalize to younger cohorts. %B SSM Population Health %V 8 %P 100418 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31249857?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100418 %0 Journal Article %J Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %D 2019 %T Education and cognitive decline: An integrative analysis of global longitudinal studies of cognitive aging. %A Sean A. P. Clouston %A Dylan M Smith %A Mukherjee, Soumyadeep %A Yun Zhang %A Hou, Wei %A Bruce G Link %A Richards, Marcus %K Alzheimer's disease %K Cognition & Reasoning %K Cross-National %K Education %X

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to examine the association between education and incidence of accelerated cognitive decline.

METHODS: Secondary analyses of data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative prospective cohort study of U.S. residents were conducted (N=28,417). Cox proportional hazards survival models were layered on longitudinal mixed-effects modeling to jointly examine healthy cognitive aging and incidence of accelerated cognitive decline consistent with patterns seen in preclinical Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Replication analyses were completed on a database including 62,485 additional respondents from HRS sister-studies. Life-expectancy ratios (LER) and 95% confidence intervals were reported.

RESULTS: This study replicated research showing that education was positively associated with cognition at baseline. Model fit improved using the survival method compared to random-slopes models alone. Analyses of HRS data revealed that higher education was associated with delayed onset of accelerated cognitive decline (LER=1.031 95% C.I. = [1.013-1.015], P<1E-06). Replication analyses using data from 14 countries identified similar results.

CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with cognitive reserve theory, suggesting that education reduces risk of ADRD-pattern cognitive decline. Follow-up work should seek to differentiate specific dementia types involved and consider potential mechanisms.

%B Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %G eng %R 10.1093/geronb/gbz053 %0 Journal Article %J GERIATRICS %D 2019 %T Education as the Great Equalizer? Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Effect of Education on Cognitive Impairment in Later Life %A Kyler J. Sherman-Wilkins %A Amy D Thierry %K cognitive functioning %K cognitive impairment %K Education %K Racial/ethnic differences %X Though evidence suggests that the prevalence of cognitive impairment has declined, there still exists a disproportionate burden of ill cognitive health for people of color. In this paper, we test two alternative mechanisms to explain the interactive effect of education and race/ethnicity on cognitive impairment risk: the minority poverty and diminishing returns hypotheses. Drawing on data from the 2012 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) (n = 8093), we estimate logistic regression models to determine differential effects of education on cognitive impairment. We find that non-Hispanic black and Mexican American older adults have higher odds of being cognitively impaired compared to whites, though the ethnic difference (whites vs. Mexican Americans) is mediated by education. Further, we find that while high levels of education are protective against cognitive impairment at older ages, it is more protective for non-Hispanic blacks than for whites and more protective for whites than Mexican Americans. Lastly, we find that racial/ethnic disparities are widest at lower levels of education, consistent with the minority poverty hypothesis. We conclude that the results herein highlight the importance of attending to how factors that are protective for cognitive functioning (e.g., education) may operate differently across racial and ethnic groups. %B GERIATRICS %V 4 %P UNSP 51 %8 SEP %G eng %9 Article %R 10.3390/geriatrics4030051 %0 Journal Article %J Health Education Journal %D 2019 %T Education, lifelong learning and self-rated health in later life in the USA %A Takashi Yamashita %A Anthony R. Bardo %A Liu, Darren %A Yoo, Ji Won %K Education %K Health Disparities %K Self-reported health %X Objective: This study examined the mediating effects of lifelong learning on the association between self-rated health and educational attainment among a nationally representative sample of US residents aged 50 years and older. Setting: Socioeconomic disparities in health are a major public health concern in economically developed nations where improving socioeconomic status (e.g. formal educational attainment) at the population level is challenging. In the light of population ageing, alternative approaches to improve health through malleable factors are urgently needed. Recent research suggests that participation in organised learning activities – lifelong learning – could attenuate the lack of formal educational attainment on health. Methods: Data come from the 2012 wave of the US Health and Retirement Study. Structural equation models with bootstrapping were used to estimate the mediation effect of lifelong learning activity in the relationship between self-rated health and formal educational attainment. Results: Approximately 3%–5% of the effect of formal education on self-rated health was mediated by lifelong learning activity. Findings from this study support the notion that ongoing participation in organised learning activities is beneficial for health in later life. Conclusion: Lifelong learning reflects a promising autonomous and sustainable strategy to improve health in later life. Future public health and education policy as well as education institutions should consider providing more learning opportunities for older populations. %B Health Education Journal %V 78 %P 328-339 %8 04/2019 %G eng %N 3 %! Health Education Journal %R 10.1177/0017896918809500 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS Medicine %D 2019 %T Educational attainment and cardiovascular disease in the United States: A quasi-experimental instrumental variables analysis. %A Hamad, Rita %A Thu T Nguyen %A Bhattacharya, Jay %A M. Maria Glymour %A David Rehkopf %K Cardiovascular health %K Education %K NHANES %X

BACKGROUND: There is ongoing debate about whether education or socioeconomic status (SES) should be inputs into cardiovascular disease (CVD) prediction algorithms and clinical risk adjustment models. It is also unclear whether intervening on education will affect CVD, in part because there is controversy regarding whether education is a determinant of CVD or merely correlated due to confounding or reverse causation. We took advantage of a natural experiment to estimate the population-level effects of educational attainment on CVD and related risk factors.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We took advantage of variation in United States state-level compulsory schooling laws (CSLs), a natural experiment that was associated with geographic and temporal differences in the minimum number of years that children were required to attend school. We linked census data on educational attainment (N = approximately 5.4 million) during childhood with outcomes in adulthood, using cohort data from the 1992-2012 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; N = 30,853) and serial cross-sectional data from 1971-2012 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES; N = 44,732). We examined self-reported CVD outcomes and related risk factors, as well as relevant serum biomarkers. Using instrumental variables (IV) analysis, we found that increased educational attainment was associated with reduced smoking (HRS β -0.036, 95%CI: -0.06, -0.02, p < 0.01; NHANES β -0.032, 95%CI: -0.05, -0.02, p < 0.01), depression (HRS β -0.049, 95%CI: -0.07, -0.03, p < 0.01), triglycerides (NHANES β -0.039, 95%CI: -0.06, -0.01, p < 0.01), and heart disease (HRS β -0.025, 95%CI: -0.04, -0.002, p = 0.01), and improvements in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (HRS β 1.50, 95%CI: 0.34, 2.49, p < 0.01; NHANES β 0.86, 95%CI: 0.32, 1.48, p < 0.01), but increased BMI (HRS β 0.20, 95%CI: 0.002, 0.40, p = 0.05; NHANES β 0.13, 95%CI: 0.01, 0.32, p = 0.05) and total cholesterol (HRS β 2.73, 95%CI: 0.09, 4.97, p = 0.03). While most findings were cross-validated across both data sets, they were not robust to the inclusion of state fixed effects. Limitations included residual confounding, use of self-reported outcomes for some analyses, and possibly limited generalizability to more recent cohorts.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides rigorous population-level estimates of the association of educational attainment with CVD. These findings may guide future implementation of interventions to address the social determinants of CVD and strengthen the argument for including educational attainment in prediction algorithms and primary prevention guidelines for CVD.

%B PLoS Medicine %V 16 %P e1002834 %8 2019 Jun %G eng %N 6 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31237869?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002834 %0 Journal Article %J SSM - Population Health %D 2019 %T Educational differences in the compression of disability incidence in the United States %A Chi-Tsun Chiu %A Mark D Hayward %A Chan, Angelique %A Matchar, David B. %K Activities of Daily Living %K Disabilities %K Education %X Objective: To examine educational differences in the compression of disability incidence in the United States. Method: We use the Health and Retirement Study and techniques of microsimulation and bootstrap to estimate the distribution of mortality and disability incidence for major education groups. Results: Higher education is associated with a right shift in the age distributions of both mortality and disability incidence, and more compressed distributions above the modal ages (p<0.05). Our study also points to gender differences in the association between education and compression of mortality and disability incidence (p<0.05). Discussion: To our knowledge, no prior studies have examined educational difference in compression of disability incidence and conducted formal tests for statistical significance. Educational differences in life span variation in mortality correspond closely with life span variation in disability incidence. One long-range implication of this work is growing inequality in life-span variation in disability incidence given trends in educational differences in life-span variation in mortality. %B SSM - Population Health %V 7 %P 100347 %G eng %! SSM - Population Health %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.100347 %0 Journal Article %J SERIEs %D 2019 %T The effect of education on health: evidence from national compulsory schooling reforms %A Raquel Fonseca %A Pierre-Carl Michaud %A Yuhui Zheng %K Causality %K Compulsory schooling laws %K Education %K health %X This paper sheds light on the causal relationship between education and health outcomes. We combine three surveys (SHARE, HRS and ELSA) that include nationally representative samples of people aged 50 and over from fourteen OECD countries. We use variation in the timing of educational reforms across these countries as an instrument for education. Using IV-probit models, we find causal evidence that more years of education lead to better health. One additional year of schooling is associated with 6.85 percentage points (pp) reduction in reporting poor health and 3.8 pp and 4.6 pp reduction in having self-reported difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental ADLs, respectively. The marginal effect of education on the probability of having a chronic illness is a 4.4 pp reduction. This ranges from a reduction of 3.4 pp for heart disease to a 7 pp reduction for arthritis. The effects are larger than those from a probit model that does not control for the endogeneity of education. However, we do not find conclusive evidence that education reduces the risk of cancer, stroke and psychiatric illness. %B SERIEs %8 2019/08/01 %@ 1869-4195 %G eng %U https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13209-019-0201-0 %! SERIEs %& 1-21 %R https://doi.org/10.1007/s13209-019-0201-0 %0 Journal Article %J Obesity (Silver Spring) %D 2019 %T Effect of genetic propensity for obesity on income and wealth through educational attainment. %A Pankaj C Patel %A Cornelius A Rietveld %K BMI %K Education %K Financial Health %K Genetics %X

OBJECTIVE: This study contributes to the literature on the income and wealth consequences of obesity by exploiting recent discoveries about the genetic basis of BMI.

METHODS: The relation between a genetic risk score (GRS) for BMI, which reflects the genetic predisposition to have a higher body weight, and income and wealth was analyzed in a longitudinal data set comprising 5,962 individuals (22,490 individual-year observations) from the US Health and Retirement Study.

RESULTS: Empirical analyses showed that the GRS for BMI lowers individual income and household wealth through the channel of lower educational attainment. Sex-stratified analyses showed that this effect is particularly significant among females.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides support for the negative effects of the GRS for BMI on individual income and household wealth through lower education for females. For males, the effects are estimated to be smaller and insignificant. The larger effects for females compared with males may be due to greater labor market taste-based discrimination faced by females.

%B Obesity (Silver Spring) %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31199061?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1002/oby.22528 %0 Journal Article %J Generations %D 2019 %T Extended work lives and the rediscovery of the 'disadvantaged' older worker %A Lain, D. %A Phillipson, C. %K Aging %K Article %K Education %K England %K human %K human experiment %K longitudinal study %K Pension %K Qualitative Research %K worker %X Disadvantaged older workers are virtually invisible in policy debates about extended working lives. It is important to “rediscover” these workers, who are greater in number than is assumed, according to analyses of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Qualitative research with hospitality workers in England reveals the negative effects of expecting people to work beyond traditional retirement ages when they have low levels of health and education and struggle to continue working in physically demanding jobs. Policy solutions could help reduce this problem. Copyright © 2019 American Society on Aging; all rights reserved. %B Generations %V 43 %P 71-77 %G eng %U https://www.asaging.org/blog/extended-work-lives-and-rediscovery-disadvantaged-older-worker %0 Journal Article %J AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW %D 2019 %T Genes, Gender Inequality, and Educational Attainment %A Herd, Pamela %A Freese, Jeremy %A Sicinski, Kamil %A Benjamin W Domingue %A Kathleen Mullan Harris %A Wei, Caiping %A Hauser, Robert M. %K biodemography %K Education %K gender %K Genetics %X Women's opportunities have been profoundly altered over the past century by reductions in the social and structural constraints that limit women's educational attainment. Do social constraints manifest as a suppressing influence on genetic indicators of potential, and if so, did equalizing opportunity mean equalizing the role of genetics? We address this with three cohort studies: the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS; birth years 1939 to 1940), the Health and Retirement Study, and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health; birth years 1975 to 1982). These studies include a ``polygenic score'' for educational attainment, providing a novel opportunity to explore this question. We find that within the WLS cohort, the relationship between genetics and educational outcomes is weaker for women than for men. However, as opportunities changed in the 1970s and 1980s, and many middle-aged women went back to school, the relationship between genetic factors and education strengthened for women as they aged. Furthermore, utilizing the HRS and Add Health, we find that as constraints limiting women's educational attainment declined, gender differences in the relationship between genetics and educational outcomes weakened. We demonstrate that genetic influence must be understood through the lens of historical change, the life course, and social structures like gender. %B AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW %V 84 %P 1069-1098 %8 DEC %G eng %9 Article %R 10.1177/0003122419886550 %0 Journal Article %J Social Science Research %D 2019 %T Genetic architecture of socioeconomic outcomes: Educational attainment, occupational status, and wealth. %A Hexuan Liu %K Education %K Employment and Labor Force %K Genetics %K Socioeconomic factors %X This study takes a socio-genomic approach to examine the complex relationships among three important socioeconomic outcomes: educational attainment, occupational status, and wealth. Using more than 8,000 genetic samples from the Health and Retirement study, it first estimates the collective influence of genetic variants across the whole human genome to each of the three socioeconomic outcomes. It then tests genetic correlations among three socioeconomic outcomes, and examines the extent to which genetic influences on occupational status and wealth are mediated by educational attainment. Analyses using the genomic-relatedness-matrix restricted maximum likelihood method show significant genetic correlations among the three outcomes, and provide evidence for both mediated and independent genetic influences. A polygenic score analysis demonstrates the utility of findings in socio-genomic studies to address genetic confounding in causal relationships among the three socioeconomic outcomes. %B Social Science Research %V 82 %P 137-147 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31300074?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2019.04.008 %0 Thesis %B Social Work %D 2019 %T The Impact of Adult Children's Education on Elderly Parents' Health and Old-Age Support: Evidence from the United States and China %A Nan Jiang %K 0351:Gerontology %K 0452:Social work %K Aging %K Education %K Gerontology %K Human capital %K Inter-generational relationship %K Social Sciences %K Social work %X The aim of this dissertation is to study the effect of adult children's education on the health and economic wellbeing of their parents in old age. This dissertation contributes to the field of human capital theory through enhancing the understanding of the connections between adult children and parents in old age. It studies large nationally representative data sets in the US and China. The findings highlight the potential importance of pathways through which children’s human capital affects parents in later life and suggest that offspring’s human capital (education) is important for parental health and old-age support. This research has important implications for the amelioration of health disparities related to intergenerational inequality in both the U.S and China. %B Social Work %I Columbia University %V PhD %P 120 %@ 9781392078761 %G eng %U https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-hfpz-rr25 %9 phd %0 Journal Article %J International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry %D 2019 %T Inequalities in elevated depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults by rural childhood residence: The important role of education. %A Audrey R Murchland %A Chloe W Eng %A Joan A Casey %A Jacqueline M Torres %A Elizabeth R Mayeda %K Depressive symptoms %K Education %K Place of residence %K Rural Settings %X

OBJECTIVES: To quantify inequalities in the prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms by rural childhood residence and the extent to which childhood socioeconomic conditions and educational attainment contribute to this disparity.

METHODS: We identified the prevalence of depressive symptoms among U.S.-born adults ages ≥50 years in the 1998-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (n=16,022). We compared prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms (>4/8 symptoms) by rural versus non-rural childhood residence (self-report) and the extent to which own education mediated this disparity. We used generalized estimating equations and marginal standardization to calculate predicted probabilities of elevated depressive symptoms.

RESULTS: In age, race/ethnicity, and sex-adjusted models, rural childhood residence was associated with elevated depressive symptoms (OR=1.20; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.29; marginal predicted probability 10.5% for rural and 8.9% for non-rural childhood residence). Adjusting for U.S. Census birth region and parental education attenuated this association (OR=1.07; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.15; marginal predicted probability 9.9% for rural and 9.3% for non-rural). After additional adjustment for own education, rural childhood residence was not associated with elevated depressive symptoms (OR=0.94; 95% CI: 0.87, 1.01; marginal predicted probability 9.2% for rural and 9.8% for non-rural).

CONCLUSIONS: Rural childhood residence was associated with elevated depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults; birth region, parental education, and own education appear to contribute to this disparity.

%B International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31318472?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1002/gps.5176 %0 Journal Article %J Int Journal of Aging & Human Development %D 2019 %T Loneliness as a Mediator of Perceived Discrimination and Depression: Examining Education Contingencies. %A Lee, Yeonjung %A Bierman, Alex %K Depressive symptoms %K Discrimination %K Education %K Loneliness %X This study examines whether loneliness explains the association between perceived everyday discrimination and depressive symptoms among older adults as well as whether this indirect pathway differs by education. Three waves (2006, 2010, and 2014) of the Health and Retirement Study ( N = 7,130) are analyzed with random-effects models that adjust for repeated observations and fixed-effects models that control for all time-stable influences. Everyday discrimination is associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms but more weakly in fixed-effects models. The association between discrimination and loneliness is stronger at low educational attainment, leading discrimination to be indirectly associated with depressive symptoms through loneliness only at low education. The consequences of everyday discrimination for depression in late life are limited to older adults with low education due to education-contingent associations with loneliness. Perceived discrimination may have broad health consequences through loneliness, especially for older adults at low education. %B Int Journal of Aging & Human Development %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29557191?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1177/0091415018763402 %0 Journal Article %J Gerontology %D 2019 %T Marital Transitions and Depressive Symptoms among Older Adults: Examining Educational Differences. %A Recksiedler, Claudia %A Stawski, Robert S %K Depressive symptoms %K Education %K Marriage %X

BACKGROUND: Later decades of the life course have undergone rapid transformations due to demographic changes in ageing societies, such as more frequent occurrences of later-life marital transitions. Adaption to these transitions, even when welcomed, brings novel chances and challenges in negotiating new social roles in old age, which could reinforce preexisting disparities in the acquisition and mastery of resources, social ties, and coping strategies.

OBJECTIVES: Because the ability to weather later-life marital transitions may depend on the long arm of education acquired earlier in the life course, the present study aims to identify and track trends in the prevalence of marriage, divorce/separation, and widowhood among sociodemographic subgroups; link the occurrence of those transitions with mental health; and test the influence of educational attainment on these associations.

METHODS: We employ an intraindividual, within-person approach to quantify the occurrence of marital transitions and their impact using data from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 22,013; 1992-2010). Measures of transition occurrence, depressive symptoms, and educational attainment were available across up to 10 biennial assessments.

RESULTS: Individuals with less than a high school diploma displayed the highest likelihood of losing their significant other through divorce/separation or death. Marital loss was associated with increasing, and marital gain with decreasing, depressive symptoms. Compared to those with less than a high school diploma, individuals with a high school or general equivalency diploma exhibited larger increases in depressive symptoms associated with widowhood, even though their average levels of depressive symptoms were lower in the absence of this transition.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings revealed a predictable educational gradient for the occurrence of marital transitions and later-life mental health. Yet higher, formalized education did not protect the participants from increased depression in the presence of a loss-related transition, which could suggest that the strains of spousal loss may to some degree function as a leveler of the preexisting social inequalities of stratified life courses. We conclude that the benefits conferred by education are not necessarily ubiquitous, and its impact on the adaptation to spousal loss may be more complex and nuanced depending on the range of prior experiences and available coping strategies.

%B Gerontology %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30481757?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1159/000493681 %0 Journal Article %J JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES %D 2019 %T A New Look at the Living Arrangements of Older Americans Using Multistate Life Tables %A James M Raymo %A Pike, Isabel %A Jersey Liang %K Demography %K Education %K Living arrangements %K Minority aging (race/ethnicity) %X Objectives: We extend existing research on the living arrangements of older Americans by focusing on geographic proximity to children, examining transitions in living arrangements across older ages, and describing differences by both race/ethnicity and educational attainment. Method: We use data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) over a period of 10 years (2000-2010) to construct multistate life tables. These analyses allow us to describe the lives of older Americans between ages 65 and 90 in terms of the number of expected years of life in different living arrangements, reflecting both mortality and living arrangement transitions. Results: Americans spend a substantial proportion of later life living near, but not with, adult children. There is a good deal of change in living arrangements at older ages and living arrangement-specific life expectancy differs markedly by race/ethnicity and educational attainment. However, overall life expectancy is not strongly related to living arrangements at age 65. Discussion: Multistate life tables, constructed separately by sex, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment, provide a comprehensive description of sociodemographic differences in living arrangements across older ages in the United States. We discuss the potential implications of these differences for access to support and the exacerbation or mitigation of inequalities at older ages. %B JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES %V 74 %P E84-E96 %8 OCT %G eng %9 Article %R 10.1093/geronb/gby099 %0 Journal Article %J Innovation in Aging %D 2019 %T PATH ANALYSIS OF EDUCATION AND DISEASE BURDEN IN DEMENTIA VULNERABILITY %A Sarah B Hubner %A Kim, Hyeon Jung %A Boron, Julie Blaskewicz %K Dementia %K dementia vulnerability %K Education %X When considering the various extrinsic variables that may affect disease vulnerability, it is valuable to study temporal ordering of factors to identify areas for disease intervention efforts. This study sought to inform improvement of networks for the purposes of education and health by attempting to better define the causal ordering of ethnicity, age, gender, education, disease burden, and dementia diagnosis with the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study, a sub-study of the Health and Retirement Study. Participants and/or proxies self-reported total number of chronic conditions, subsequently regarded as disease burden. Assessments occurred over four waves; participants were not reassessed after dementia diagnosis. The current study categorized participants as demented (n=414), identified in any wave, or normal (n=117), identified in the final wave. Cognitively-impaired-not-demented and deceased participants were not considered due to lack of diagnosis. Cross-sectional weighting was used. A path model was developed; ethnicity, age, and gender were antecedent to education, and education was casually ordered before disease burden, which was antecedent to dementia diagnosis. A series of logistic and linear regression analyses were conducted. Results revealed that being non-white (Σβ=0.643, all p’s<.001), of older age (Σβ=0.250, all p’s<.001), female (Σβ=0.180, all p’s<.001), and having increased disease burden (Σβ=0.118, p<.001) all demonstrated a positive total effect on dementia diagnosis. Conversely, more years of education (Σβ=-0.245, p<.001) had a negative total effect on diagnosis. The education to disease burden pathway was non-significant. Ultimately, these results may indicate a need for dementia interventions that target those with low education or high disease burden. %B Innovation in Aging %V 3 %P S704 - S704 %8 2019/11/08 %@ 2399-5300 %G eng %U https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6845840/ %N Suppl 1 %! Innov Aging %0 Journal Article %J Psychology and Aging %D 2019 %T Polygenic scores for education, health, and personality as predictors of subjective age among older individuals of European ancestry: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study. %A Yannick Stephan %A Angelina R Sutin %A Kornadt, Anna %A Antonio Terracciano %K Education %K GWAS %K Personality %K PGS %K Subjective age %X The present study aimed to identify whether polygenic scores (PGSs) for education, health and psychological factors are related to subjective age in a large sample of older adults. Participants were 7,763 individuals of European ancestry (57% women, age = 69.15, = 10.18) from the Health and Retirement Study who were genotyped and provided subjective age data. Higher PGSs for educational achievement and well-being were related to a younger subjective age, whereas higher PGSs for neuroticism, body mass index, waist circumference, and depressive symptoms were associated with an older subjective age. This study provides new evidence on the potential genetic underpinnings of subjective age. %B Psychology and Aging %V 34 %P 139-144 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30080057?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1037/pag0000283 %0 Thesis %B Economics %D 2019 %T Three Essays on Labor Economics %A Zhao,Shanke %K 0510:Labor economics %K 0745:Higher education %K College education %K Education %K Higher education %K Human capital %K Labor economics %K Major choice %K Medicare Part D %K Occupation %K Social Sciences %X Wage differentials across college majors are huge and have been increasing. The type of college education becomes important for college students in terms of future earnings. Understanding the treatment effect of major choice in a certain occupation is difficult because of the sorting behavior and the effect of occupation choice. In order to accomplish this, I provide a dynamic model that combines major choice with occupation choice. The simulation results illustrate that science majors earn 30% more if they choose jobs related to science. However, this high premium does not exist in all jobs. The major choice itself does not guarantee a high return. Occupation choice matters a lot in obtaining a higher premium. The second chapter proposes a dynamic model of college course and occupation choices, where individuals make human capital investment under imperfect information about the future return. Using simulation results based on this model, I investigate the role played by uncertainty in student choices. I contribute to the recent task-based heterogeneous human capital literature by adding choices made before individuals enter the labor market. By combining college transcript data and occupational knowledge requirement information, I match human capital with occupational tasks to better evaluate the labor market performance of college graduates. For tractability purposes, both human capital and occupational tasks are aggregated into two dimensions: STEM and non-STEM. Estimation results indicate that college courses have different returns at work, with STEM courses inducing relatively higher wages. When uncertainty is eliminated, individuals specialize more in STEM or non-STEM based on their comparative advantages. The change of specialization in STEM courses is bigger compared to non-STEM courses. Overall benefits of human capital specialization are more pronounced in top ranking colleges. Old-age medical expenditure risks have been documented to impose significant impacts on elderly savings. However, little is known about the consumption effects of elderly medical expenditure risks. In this study, we examine the effect of medical expenditure risk on elderly household consumption decisions. We identify the causal effect by exploiting the exogenous reduction in prescription drug spending risk as a result of the introduction of Medicare Part D in the U.S. in 2006. Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data during 2004–2010, we find that declining medical expenditure risks had little impact on total consumption, regardless of nondurable or durable consumption. %B Economics %I University of Wisconsin-Madison %V PhD %P 113 %@ 9781392298169 %G eng %U https://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2248680945?accountid=14667 %9 phd %0 Thesis %B Sociology %D 2019 %T Unraveling the Relationship between Education and Health: Genetic Controls, Heterogeneity across Sociodemographic Groups, and Variation across Biomarkers of Health Risk %A Zacher, Meghan %K Education %K health %X Despite decades of research demonstrating better health among the higher educated, the causal effect of education on health is still debated. This is due in part to mixed evidence obtained in quasiexperimental work. These puzzling patterns could be explained by the influence of uncontrolled confounders in observational research, by effect heterogeneity across individuals or environments, or by variation in effects across manifestations of health. The empirical chapters of this dissertation draw motivation from these observations to further unravel the relationship between education and health among older adults in the United States. First, I assess the utility of a novel control variable: a measure of genetic selection into education. Genetic selection is operationalized using a polygenic score (PGS) that predicts years of schooling based on many hundreds of thousands of genetic variants across the genome. Among European-ancestry respondents to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), I find that controlling for the PGS significantly attenuates the association between education and later health. The level of attenuation I observe is comparable to that obtained when controlling instead for measures of other known confounders, including family background and childhood health. Additional results suggest that the education PGS reflects more proximal confounders of the education-health link that may not be adequately controlled using survey measures alone. Crucially, however, the positive relationship between education and health is robust to this particular measure of genetic selection into years of schooling. Next, I evaluate whether the association of education with health varies across sociodemographic groups defined by socioeconomic (SES) origin, race, and gender using data from the HRS. In so doing, I take a more complex intersectional perspective than has been used in prior work. This is important, as exposure to discrimination, which shapes opportunities to use resources in support of health, may depend on multiple sociodemographic characteristics simultaneously. Results underscore the importance of one intersection in particular: that between SES origin and race. In line with prior work, I find that the association of years of schooling with self-reported health is stronger for those from low-SES backgrounds; however, this is only the case among whites. Seen from the other angle, the association of education with self-reported health and mortality is weaker for blacks than for whites, but primarily among those from low-SES origins. For both self-reported health and mortality, I find the smallest gain in health per year of schooling among low-SES origin black men, the group with the highest risk of poor health and mortality overall. In the final empirical chapter, I use data from the HRS to assess whether educational disparities in biomarkers of health risk vary across their distributions. Fundamental cause theory implies that such disparities will be largest where related resources can most successfully be leveraged to improve outcomes. For many biomarkers, this could be in the unhealthy tail of the distribution, where unequal access to and efficacy of medical interventions may exacerbate disparities. Consistent with this theory, I find that educational disparities in blood sugar and blood pressure are largest at their least healthy levels, precisely the points where impacts on subsequent morbidity and mortality are greatest. Meanwhile, highdensity lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol—a biomarker that is not regularly targeted by medication—does not display such a pattern. These results are not only of theoretical and substantive interest; they also provide methodological guidance for future work on biomarkers of health risk, which is timely given the recent proliferation of such measures in social science datasets. %B Sociology %I Harvard University %C Cambridge, MA %V Doctor of Philosophy %G eng %U http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42013161 %0 Conference Paper %B 2019 18th IEEE International Conference On Machine Learning And Applications (ICMLA) %D 2019 %T Unsupervised Learning on the Health and Retirement Study using Geometric Data Analysis %A R. Sanchez-Arias %A R. W. Batista %K Aging, Sociology %K Data analysis %K dimensionality reduction %K Economics %K Education %K hierarchical clustering %K multiple correspondence analysis %K Retirement %K Statistics %X A geometric data analysis that builds a lower dimensional representation of both individuals and measured variables is used to detect and represent underlying structures in the US Health and Retirement Study, a longitudinal survey of a representative sample of Americans over age 50 that captures information on how changing health interacts with social, economic, and psychological factors and retirement decisions. Multiple correspondence analysis is performed on a subset of the survey responses, creating a lower dimensional representation of the respondents and their response patterns, and a hierarchical clustering method is applied to test and validate specific structures in this population study. %B 2019 18th IEEE International Conference On Machine Learning And Applications (ICMLA) %I IEEE %C Boca Raton, FL, USA %8 12/2019 %G eng %U https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8999159 %R 10.1109/ICMLA.2019.00063 %0 Journal Article %J Health promotion international %D 2019 %T Wealth and the health of older Black women in the United States %A Sharma, A. %K Adult %K Article %K Education %K Female %K human %K human experiment %K human tissue %K major clinical study %K panel study %K Policy %K Population Health %K Retirement %K Social determinants of health %K United States %K Wellbeing %K Women's Health %X Public health scholars and policy-makers are concerned that the United States continues to experience unmanageable health care costs while struggling with issues surrounding access and equity. To addresses these and other key issues, the National Academy of Medicine held a public symposium, Vital Directions for Health and Health Care: A National Conversation during September 2016, with the goal of identifying clear priorities for high-value health care and improved well-being. One important area was addressing social determinants of health. This article contributes to this objective by investigating the impact of wealth on older Black women's health. Employing the 2008/2010 waves of the RAND Health and Retirement Study on a sample of 906 older Black women, this panel study examined self-assessed health ratings of very good/good/fair/poor within a relaxed random effects framework, thereby controlling for both (i) observed and (ii) unobserved individual-level heterogeneity. This analysis did not find a statistically significant association with wealth despite a difference of approximately $75 000 in its valuation from very good to poor health. This also occurred after wealth was (i) readjusted for outliers and (ii) reformulated as negative, no change or positive change from 2008. This finding suggests that wealth may not play as integral a role. However, the outcome was significant for earnings and education, particularly higher levels of education. Scholars should further this inquiry to better understand how earnings/education/wealth operate as social determinants of health for minority populations. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com. %B Health promotion international %V 34 %P 1055-1068 %G eng %R 10.1093/heapro/day053 %0 Journal Article %J PLOS ONE %D 2018 %T Demographic factors and retrieval of object and proper names after age 70 %A Kavé, Gitit %A Fridkin, Shimon %A Liat Ayalon %E Vigliecca, Nora Silvana %K Cognitive Ability %K Education %K Memory %X Purpose This research aimed to investigate whether demographic factors are similarly related to retrieval of object and proper names. Methods The sample included 5,907 individuals above age 70 who participated in the Health and Retirement Study between 2004 and 2012. Participants were asked to name two objects as well as the US President and Vice President. Latent growth curve models examined the associations of age, education, and self-rated health with baseline levels and change trajectories in retrieval. Results Age and education were more strongly related to retrieval of proper names than to retrieval of object names, both for baseline scores and for change trajectory. Similar effects of selfrated health emerged for both types of stimuli. Conclusions The results show that examining object names and proper names together as indication of cognitive status in the HRS might overlook important differences between the two types of stimuli, in both baseline performance and longitudinal change. %B PLOS ONE %V 13 %P e0191876 %G eng %N 1 %! PLoS ONE %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0191876 %0 Journal Article %J Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %D 2018 %T Educational Differences in the Prevalence of Dementia and Life Expectancy with Dementia: Changes from 2000 to 2010. %A Eileen M. Crimmins %A Saito, Yasuhiko %A Jung K Kim %A Yuan S Zhang %A Sasson, Isaac %A Mark D Hayward %K Dementia %K Education %K Mortality %X

Objectives: This article provides the first estimates of educational differences in age-specific prevalence, and changes in prevalence over time, of dementia by education levels in the United States. It also provides information on life expectancy, and changes in life expectancy, with dementia and cognitively healthy life for educational groups.

Method: Data on cognition from the 2000 and 2010 Health and Retirement Study are used to classify respondents as having dementia, cognitive impairment without dementia (CIND), or being cognitively intact. Vital statistics data are used to estimate life tables for education groups and the Sullivan method is used to estimate life expectancy by cognitive state.

Results: People with more education have lower prevalence of dementia, more years of cognitively healthy life, and fewer years with dementia. Years spent in good cognition increased for most sex-education groups and, conversely, years spent with dementia decreased for some. Mortality reduction was the most important factor in increasing cognitively healthy life. Change in the distribution of educational attainment has played a major role in the reduction of life with dementia in the overall population.

Discussion: Differences in the burden of cognitive loss by education point to the significant cost of low social status both to individuals and to society.

%B Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences %V 73 %P S20-S28 %G eng %N suppl_1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29669097?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/geronb/gbx135 %0 Thesis %B Economics %D 2018 %T Essays on Investment in Health and Economic Development %A Yang,Po-Chieh %K 0511:Economic theory %K 0680:Health education %K Economic theory %K Education %K fertility rate %K Health education %K health investment %K Social Sciences %X This dissertation includes two complementary works that theoretically and empirically examine the role of health on economic development and individual health investment. Previous literature has well documented the relationship between health, health investment, and economic growth. However, most of past studies have not convincingly overcome the causality issue. This thesis is attempting to overcome the challenge by focusing on the causal effect children’s health investment on economic development, and by establishing the distinct effect of health on investment in health as well as on the natural causal effect of investment in health on health accumulation. In the first essay, I develop a three-period overlapping generation model with endogenous longevity, fertility rate and educational investment on children to investigate the effect of health on economic development. My model suggests that health of children is a critical factor to economic development. The dynamic transition from a stagnant equilibrium to a growth equilibrium is linked by health of children and education. The model predicts that an economy with healthier children has higher educational and health investment in children and a lower fertility rate while moving towards a growth equilibrium. Using annual rainfall as an instrumental variable for health of children, the IV estimates show that the improvement of health of children under age 5 increases the 25 years forward growth rate of GDP per capita. However, the effect of life expectancy at 20 is negative. The IV estimates also indicate that the improvement of health of children increases educational investment but decreases size of population. The improvement of life expectancy at 20 only increases total population. The results show that the health at different ages have significantly different effects on economic development. In the second essay, I examine the effect of health on individuals' health investment. Attempts to model the relationship between health and health investment has resulted in two conflicting approaches: a constant return to scale health production in Grossman model and a decreasing return to scale health production in Ehrlich-Chuma model. Although past empirical studies on health generally support Grossman model, recent empirical studies show that the correlation between health and medical care spending is negative and support the predictions of Ehrlich-Chuma model. However, these more recent studies suffer from endogeneity bias and fail to prove the causal relationship between health and health investment. This essay investigates methods to solve the endogeneity challenge. Having accounted for these factors, this paper finds that healthier people have higher total medical care spending and number of hospital stays. Moreover, health investment depends on initial health and wealth endowments. The findings are thus in favor of the predictions of Ehrlich-Chuma model. %B Economics %I State University of New York at Buffalo %V PhD %P 109 %@ 9780438455672 %G eng %U https://ubir.buffalo.edu/xmlui/handle/10477/78536 %9 phd %0 Journal Article %J The Journal of Economic Inequality %D 2018 %T Ethnic and racial disparities in saving behavior %A Dal Borgo, Mariela %K African Americans %K Education %K Income inequality %K Mexican Americans %K Pensions %K Saving %K Socioeconomic factors %X Using data of households approaching retirement in the U.S., I perform quantile decompositions of the Whites’ differences in saving rates with Mexican Americans (ethnic gap) and with African Americans (racial gap). The gaps are small at the bottom half of the distribution and widen at the top, especially those resulting from changes in asset prices (passive savings). Differences in observable factors account for the entire gaps at lower quantiles, but some unexplained racial gap remains at higher quantiles. Thus, racial wealth inequality could be partly attributable to differences in the distributions of saving rates conditional on socio-economic characteristics. Income is the main contributor to the active savings gaps, and education is more important for passive savings. Including retirement assets, the racial but not the ethnic gap in total saving rates disappears. The results suggest that reducing disparities in income, education and pension savings would help to reduce wealth inequality between minorities, particularly Mexican Americans, and Whites. %B The Journal of Economic Inequality %8 May-10-2018 %G eng %U http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3.pdfhttp://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3.pdfhttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3/fulltext.html %! J Econ Inequal %R 10.1007/s10888-018-9400-3 %0 Journal Article %J International Journal of Obesity %D 2018 %T Generalized lambda distribution for flexibly testing differences beyond the mean in the distribution of a dependent variable such as body mass index %A Ejima, K %A Gregory Pavela %A Li, P %A Allison, D B %K BMI %K Education %K Survey Methodology %X BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Conventional statistical methods often test for group differences in a single parameter of a distribution, usually the conditional mean (for example, differences in mean body mass index (BMI; kg m(-2)) by education category) under specific distributional assumptions. However, parameters other than the mean may of be interest, and the distributional assumptions of conventional statistical methods may be violated in some situations. SUBJECTS/METHODS: We describe an application of the generalized lambda distribution (GLD), a flexible distribution that can be used to model continuous outcomes, and simultaneously describe a likelihood ratio test for differences in multiple distribution parameters, including measures of central tendency, dispersion, asymmetry and steepness. We demonstrate the value of our approach by testing for differences in multiple parameters of the BMI distribution by education category using the Health and Retirement Study data set. RESULTS: Our proposed method indicated that at least one parameter of the BMI distribution differed by education category in both the complete data set (N=13 571) (P < 0.001) and a randomly resampled data set (N=300 from each category) to assess the method under circumstances of lesser power (P=0.044). Similar method using normal distribution alternative to GLD indicated the significant difference among the complete data set (P < 0.001) but not in the smaller randomly resampled data set (P=0.968). Moreover, the proposed method allowed us to specify which parameters of the BMI distribution significantly differed by education category for both the complete and the random subsample, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our method provides a flexible statistical approach to compare the entire distribution of variables of interest, which can be a supplement to conventional approaches that frequently require unmet assumptions and focus only on a single parameter of distribution. %B International Journal of Obesity %V 42 %P 930-933 %G eng %U http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/ijo.2017.262http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/ijo.2017.262 %N 4 %! Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord %R 10.1038/ijo.2017.262 %0 Journal Article %J Molecular Psychiatry %D 2018 %T A genome-wide association study for extremely high intelligence %A Zabaneh, D %A Krapohl, E %A Gaspar, H A %A Curtis, C %A Lee, S H %A Patel, H %A Newhouse, S %A Wu, H M %A Simpson, M A %A Putallaz, M %A Lubinski, D %A Plomin, R %A Breen, G %K Cognitive Ability %K Education %K Genome %K Hereditary %K Humans %X We used a case-control genome-wide association (GWA) design with cases consisting of 1238 individuals from the top 0.0003 (~170 mean IQ) of the population distribution of intelligence and 8172 unselected population-based controls. The single-nucleotide polymorphism heritability for the extreme IQ trait was 0.33 (0.02), which is the highest so far for a cognitive phenotype, and significant genome-wide genetic correlations of 0.78 were observed with educational attainment and 0.86 with population IQ. Three variants in locus ADAM12 achieved genome-wide significance, although they did not replicate with published GWA analyses of normal-range IQ or educational attainment. A genome-wide polygenic score constructed from the GWA results accounted for 1.6% of the variance of intelligence in the normal range in an unselected sample of 3414 individuals, which is comparable to the variance explained by GWA studies of intelligence with substantially larger sample sizes. The gene family plexins, members of which are mutated in several monogenic neurodevelopmental disorders, was significantly enriched for associations with high IQ. This study shows the utility of extreme trait selection for genetic study of intelligence and suggests that extremely high intelligence is continuous genetically with normal-range intelligence in the population. %B Molecular Psychiatry %V 23 %P 1226 - 1232 %8 Apr-05-2018 %G eng %U http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/mp.2017.121http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/mp.2017.121 %N 5 %! Mol Psychiatry %R 10.1038/mp.2017.121 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health %D 2018 %T Mother's education and late-life disparities in memory and dementia risk among US military veterans and non-veterans. %A Anusha M Vable %A Chloe W Eng %A Elizabeth R Mayeda %A Basu, Sanjay %A Jessica R Marden %A Hamad, Rita %A M. Maria Glymour %K Cognitive Ability %K Dementia %K Education %K Memory %K Veterans %X

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood socioeconomic status (cSES) predicts higher late-life risk of memory loss and dementia. Veterans of U.S. wars are eligible for educational and economic benefits that may offset cSES disadvantage. We test whether cSES disparities in late-life memory and dementia are smaller among veterans than non-veterans.

METHODS: Data came from US-born men in the 1995-2014 biennial surveys of the Health and Retirement Study (n=7916 born 1928-1956, contributing n=38 381 cognitive assessments). Childhood SES was represented by maternal education. Memory and dementia risk were assessed with brief neuropsychological assessments and proxy reports. Military service (veteran/non-veteran) was evaluated as a modifier of the effect of maternal education on memory and dementia risk. We employed linear or logistic regression models to test whether military service modified the effect of maternal education on memory or dementia risk, adjusted for age, race, birthplace and childhood health.

RESULTS: Low maternal education was associated with worse memory than high maternal education (β = -0.07 SD, 95% CI -0.08 to -0.05), while veterans had better memory than non-veterans (β = 0.03 SD, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.04). In interaction analyses, maternal education disparities in memory were smaller among veterans than non-veterans (difference in disparities = 0.04 SD, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.08, p = 0.006). Patterns were similar for dementia risk.

CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in memory by maternal education were smaller among veterans than non-veterans, suggesting military service and benefits partially offset the deleterious effects of low maternal education on late-life cognitive outcomes.

%B Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health %V 72 %P 1162-1167 %G eng %N 12 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30082424?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1136/jech-2018-210771 %0 Journal Article %J Occupational and Environmental Medicine %D 2018 %T Occupational and educational inequalities in exit from employment at older ages: evidence from seven prospective cohorts %A Carr, Ewan %A Fleischmann, Maria %A Goldberg, Marcel %A Kuh, Diana %A Murray, Emily T %A Stafford, Mai %A Stansfeld, Stephen %A Vahtera, Jussi %A Xue, Baowen %A Zaninotto, Paola %A Zins, Marie %A Head, Jenny %K Education %K Employment and Labor Force %K Europe %K Health Disparities %K Work %X Objectives Past studies have identified socioeconomic inequalities in the timing and route of labour market exit at older ages. However, few studies have compared these trends cross-nationally and existing evidence focuses on specific institutional outcomes (such as disability pension and sickness absence) in Nordic countries. We examined differences by education level and occupational grade in the risks of work exit and health-related work exit. Methods Prospective longitudinal data were drawn from seven studies (n=99 164). Participants were in paid work at least once around age 50. Labour market exit was derived based on reductions in working hours, changes in self-reported employment status or from administrative records. Health-related exit was ascertained by receipt of health-related benefit or pension or from the reported reason for stopping work. Cox regression models were estimated for each study, adjusted for baseline self-rated health and birth cohort. Results There were 50 003 work exits during follow-up, of which an average of 14% (range 2-32%) were health related. Low level education and low occupational grade were associated with increased risks of health-related exit in most studies. Low level education and occupational grade were also associated with an increased risk of any exit from work, although with less consistency across studies. Conclusions Workers with low socioeconomic position have an increased risk of health-related exit from employment. Policies that extend working life may disadvantage such workers disproportionally, especially where institutional support for those exiting due to poor health is minimal. %B Occupational and Environmental Medicine %V 75 %P 369 - 377 %8 Dec-05-2018 %G eng %U http://oem.bmj.com/content/75/5/369 %N 5 %! Occup Environ Med %R 10.1136/oemed-2017-10461910.1136/oemed-2017-104619.supp1 %0 Journal Article %J Personality and Individual Differences %D 2018 %T Parental Educational Attainment and Offspring Subjective Well-being and Self-Beliefs in Older Adulthood. %A Angelina R Sutin %A Yannick Stephan %A Antonio Terracciano %K Education %K Multigenerational %K Self-perception %K Subjective Expectations %K Well-being %X This research examines whether parental educational attainment and subjective childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with adult offspring well-being and self-beliefs (broadly defined). Participants from the Health and Retirement Study were included if they completed the leave-behind questionnaire in 2006 or 2008 (=10,827;=68.38;=9.81; range=50-101). Participants reported on their own and both parents educational attainment, subjective childhood financial situation, and financial difficulties in childhood at study entry and on well-being in 2006/2008. Linear regression was used to examine the association between offspring education, parental education, childhood SES and three aspects of well-being and self-beliefs: positive affect (e.g., positive emotions, optimism), negative affect (e.g., loneliness, hostility), and cognitive evaluation (e.g., life satisfaction). Participants with more education reported higher well-being (median β=.12). Parental educational attainment, subjective childhood SES, and a significant financial event during childhood were associated with more positive affect, less negative affect, and higher life satisfaction (median β=.05); these associations held controlling for offspring education. The educational and financial environment of childhood may hamper well-being into older adulthood; the offspring's own experiences and achievements do not completely attenuate the association with these aspects of the childhood environment. %B Personality and Individual Differences %V 128 %P 139-145 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29527082?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.paid.2018.01.023 %0 Journal Article %J Education Finance and Policy %D 2018 %T Postsecondary Schooling and Parental Resources: Evidence from the PSID and HRS %A Steven Haider %A Kathleen McGarry %K Education %K Inequality %K Parents %K PSID %X We examine the association between young adult postsecondary schooling and parental financial resources using two datasets that contain high-quality data on parental resources: the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). We find the association to be pervasiveit exists for income and wealth, it extends far up the income and wealth distributions, it remains even after we control for a host of other characteristics, and it continues beyond simply beginning postsecondary schooling to completing a four-year degree. Using the Transition to Adulthood supplement to the PSID, we also find that financial resources strongly affect postsecondary schooling for all levels of high school achievement, and particularly for those at the highest level. %B Education Finance and Policy %V 13 %P 72-96 %G eng %U http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/edfp_a_00219http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/EDFP_a_00219 %N 1 %! Education Finance and Policy %R 10.1162/edfp_a_00219 %0 Thesis %B Public Health %D 2018 %T Psychological Well-being and Smoking Cessation %A Thorne,Christopher B. %K 0680:Health education %K Education %K Health education %K Life Satisfaction %K Optimism %K Positive psychology %K Purpose in life %K Resilience %K Smoking cessation %X Introduction: The substantial death toll from smoking combined with the low success rates of current treatment approaches warrants further investigation into mechanisms that promote cessation. While the role of negative affect has been studied extensively in relationship to smoking cessation, the role of psychological well-being (PWB; e.g., life satisfaction, optimism, positive affect, purpose in life, resilience) has received little attention. Treatment outcomes might improve with a better understanding of PWB’s role in smoking cessation. Methods: Relationships between smoking and PWB were examined in three studies. First, using panel data from the biennial, longitudinal Health and Retirement Study, I developed separate cross-lagged models examining the relationships between smoking status in 2006 and PWB in 2010 and of PWB in 2006 with smoking status in 2010. Second, using data collected from a pilot study of withdrawal regulation training for smoking cessation, I used logistic regression to model the effects of 1) baseline optimism and 2) the change in optimism on cessation outcomes at the three month follow-up. Third, using data from the same pilot study, Generalized Estimating Equations modeled the role of resilience in withdrawal symptom variation over time. Results: For the first study, greater life satisfaction, optimism, and positive affect in 2006 predicted a reduced likelihood of smoking in 2010. Being a smoker in 2006 predicted lower life satisfaction, lower optimism, and lower purpose in life in 2010. For study two, analyses showed no statistically significant relationship between pre-treatment optimism levels and smoking cessation. Alternatively, an increase in optimism from baseline to two month follow-up was associated with an increased likelihood of abstinence at three month follow-up. For study three, the resilience scales Planned Future and Structured Style were found to be psychological predictors of withdrawal symptoms, such that greater resilience predicted reduced withdrawal symptom severity. Conclusions: These initial findings that greater PWB reduces the likelihood of smoking and smoking reduces PWB, that an increase in optimism is associated with cessation outcomes, and that greater resilience may buffer against withdrawal symptoms warrant further exploration into the associations between PWB and smoking. Existing treatments may benefit from incorporating PWB-boosting components. %B Public Health %I The University of Alabama at Birmingham %V PhD %P 90 %@ 9780438344310 %G eng %U https://search.proquest.com/docview/2108556620?pq-origsite=gscholar %0 Journal Article %J Demographic Research %D 2018 %T The role of education in the association between race/ethnicity/nativity, cognitive impairment, and dementia among older adults in the United States %A Marc Garcia %A Joseph L Saenz %A Brian Downer %A Rebeca Wong %K Cognitive Ability %K Dementia %K Education %K Racial/ethnic differences %X Older Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to be cognitively impaired than older White adults. Disadvantages in educational achievement for minority and immigrant populations may contribute to disparities in cognitive impairment. Examine the role of education in racial/ethnic and nativity differences in cognitive impairment/no dementia (CIND) and dementia among older US adults. Data comes from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study. A total of 19,099 participants aged >50 were included in the analysis. Participants were categorized as having normal cognition, CIND, or dementia based on the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) or questions from a proxy interview. We document age and educational differences in cognitive status among White, Black, US-born Hispanic, and foreign-born Hispanic adults by sex. Logistic regression is used to quantify the association between race/ethnicity/nativity, education, and cognitive status by sex. Among women, foreign-born Hispanics have higher odds of CIND and dementia than Whites. For men, Blacks have higher odds for CIND and dementia compared to Whites. The higher odds for CIND and dementia across race/ethnic and nativity groups was reduced after controlling for years of education but remained statistically significant for older Black and US-born Hispanic adults. Controlling for education reduces the odds for CIND (women and men) and dementia (men) among foreign-born Hispanics to nonsignificance. These results highlight the importance of education in CIND and dementia, particularly among foreign-born Hispanics. Addressing inequalities in education can contribute to reducing racial/ethnic/nativity disparities in CIND and dementia for older adults. %B Demographic Research %V 38 %P 155-168 %G eng %U https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol38/6/ %! DemRes %R 10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.6 %0 Journal Article %J Advances in Life Course Research %D 2018 %T Smoking, education and the ability to predict own survival probabilities %A Bruno Arpino %A Valeria Bordone %A Sergei Scherbov %K Education %K Life Expectancy %K Smoking %X Abstract Subjective survival probabilities (SSPs) are a good predictor of mortality, go beyond the aggregate description of survival defined by life tables, and are important for individuals’ decision-making in later life. However, despite the well-known mortality differentials by education as well as by characteristics such as smoking, little investigation has focused on SSPs by population sub-groups defined as a combination of these two characteristics. We use data on individuals aged 50–89 from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) carried out in the USA between 2000 and 2012 (N = 23,895). Respondents were asked to assess the probability to survive to a given target age according to their age at the time of the survey. We assess how individuals’ SSPs and estimated objective survival probabilities (OSPs) vary by education and smoking and calculate, for each respondent, the gap between them. Consistently with real mortality patterns, smokers report the lowest SSPs in each of the three considered education groups. When comparing SSPs and OSPs we find that all groups tend to underestimate survival. Within each education group, past smokers better predict their survival probability. Current smokers with low education show the highest probability to overestimate their survival. Smokers are aware of their lower life expectancy. Still, a considerable proportion of them overestimate their survival probabilities, independently of their level of education. %B Advances in Life Course Research %V 37 %P 23-30 %G eng %R 10.1016/J.ALCR.2018.06.001 %0 Journal Article %J Advances in Life Course Research %D 2018 %T Smoking, education and the ability to predict own survival probabilities %A Bruno Arpino %A Valeria Bordone %A Sergei Scherbov %K Decision making %K Education %K Mortality %K Probability %K Smoking %X Subjective survival probabilities (SSPs) are a good predictor of mortality, go beyond the aggregate description of survival defined by life tables, and are important for individuals' decision-making in later life. However, despite the well-known mortality differentials by education as well as by characteristics such as smoking, little investigation has focused on SSPs by population sub-groups defined as a combination of these two characteristics. We use data on individuals aged 50-89 from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) carried out in the USA between 2000 and 2012 (N = 23,895). Respondents were asked to assess the probability to survive to a given target age according to their age at the time of the survey. We assess how individuals' SSPs and estimated objective survival probabilities (OSPs) vary by education and smoking and calculate, for each respondent, the gap between them. Consistently with real mortality patterns, smokers report the lowest SSPs in each of the three considered education groups. When comparing SSPs and OSPs we find that all groups tend to underestimate survival. Within each education group, past smokers better predict their survival probability. Current smokers with low education show the highest probability to overestimate their survival. Smokers are aware of their lower life expectancy. Still, a considerable proportion of them overestimate their survival probabilities, independently of their level of education. %B Advances in Life Course Research %V 37 %P 23 - 30 %8 Jan-09-2018 %G eng %U https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040260818300650https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S1040260818300650?httpAccept=text/xmlhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S1040260818300650?httpAccept=text/plain %! Advances in Life Course Research %R 10.1016/j.alcr.2018.06.001 %0 Journal Article %J American Sociological Review %D 2018 %T Social and Genetic Pathways in Multigenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment %A Hexuan Liu %K Education %K Genetics %K Genome %K Multigenerational %X This study investigates the complex roles of the social environment and genes in the multigenerational transmission of educational attainment. Drawing on genome-wide data and educational attainment measures from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), I conduct polygenic score analyses to examine genetic confounding in the estimation of parents’ and grandparents’ influences on their children’s and grandchildren’s educational attainment. I also examine social genetic effects (i.e., genetic effects that operate through the social environment) in the transmission of educational attainment across three generations. Two-generation analyses produce three important findings. First, about one-fifth of the parent-child association in education reflects genetic inheritance. Second, up to half of the association between parents’ polygenic scores and children’s education is mediated by parents’ education. Third, about one-third of the association between children’s polygenic scores and their educational attainment is attributable to parents’ genotypes and education. Three-generation analyses suggest that genetic confounding on the estimate of the direct effect of grandparents’ education on grandchildren’s education (net of parents’ education) may be inconsequential, and I find no evidence that grandparents’ genotypes significantly influence grandchildren’s education through non-biological pathways. The three-generation results are suggestive, and the results may change when different samples are used. %B American Sociological Review %V 83 %P 278-304 %8 04/2018 %G eng %N 2 %! Am Sociol Rev %R 10.1177/0003122418759651 %0 Journal Article %J RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences %D 2018 %T The Sociogenomics of Polygenic Scores of Reproductive Behavior and Their Relationship to Other Fertility Traits %A Melinda C Mills %A Nicola Barban %A Felix C Tropf %K Education %K Fertility %K Genetics %K GWAS %K PGS %X Human reproductive behavior until relatively recently has been explained exclusively via individual and social characteristics. This article applies results from a recent Genome-Wide Association Study that combined sixty-two data sources to isolate twelve genetic loci associated with reproductive behavior. We create polygenic scores that allow us to include a summary variable of genetic factors into our statistical models. We use four datasets: the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, Dutch LifeLines, TwinsUK and the Swedish Twin register. First, we provide a brief overview of the dominant explanations of reproductive behavior. Second, we test the predictive power of polygenic scores. Third, we interrogate the robustness of our models using a series of sensitivity analyses to take into account possible confounders due to population stratification and selection. %B RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences %V 4 %P 122-136 %8 Jan-01-2018 %G eng %U http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/rsf.2018.4.4.07 %N 4 %! RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences %R 10.7758/rsf.2018.4.4.07 %0 Report %D 2018 %T What Factors Explain the Decline in Widows' Poverty? %A Alicia H. Munnell %K Education %K Poverty %K Social Security %K Socioeconomic factors %K Widowhood %X One of Social Security’s objectives is to ensure that vulnerable groups have adequate income in retirement. Historically, widows have been of particular concern for policymakers due to their high rates of poverty. However, over the past several decades, their poverty rate has fallen considerably. If it falls farther, widowhood may warrant lower placement on policymakers’ priority list. To understand why this decline has occurred and what this means for the future, this project uses the Health and Retirement Study linked to administrative earnings and benefit records. Specifically, the project focuses on three factors that could explain the decline in widows’ poverty: 1) women’s rising levels of education; 2) their increased attachment to the labor force; and 3) increasing marital “selection” – i.e., the notion that while marriage used to be equally distributed, it is becoming less common among those with lower socioeconomic status. The project explores what share of the decline in poverty can be explained by these factors and also projects the role of these factors in the future. The paper found that: The rise in education and labor force participation explain most of the decline in widows’ average poverty rate from 20 percent in 1994 to 13 percent in 2014.So far, marital selection has not been a driving force in the decline in widows’ poverty.The projections suggest that widows’ poverty will continue to fall over the next 15 years.In the future, up to half of this reduction could be explained by the increasing selection of women into marriage. The policy implications of the findings are: While the projected decline in widows’ poverty may allow policymakers to shift some of their focus to more vulnerable groups, widows will remain poorer than married women.Considering the effect on widows of any change that would bring fiscal balance to the Social Security program will continue to be important. %B Working Papers %I Center for Retirement Research at Boston College %C Boston, MA %P 2-21 %8 05/2018 %G eng %U http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/wp_2018-4.pdf %0 Web Page %D 2017 %T Dementia rates are declining, and education could have a lot to do with it %A Stateside Staff %K Dementia %K Education %K Health Conditions and Status %K Interviews %K Local news %K Older Adults %B Stateside %I Michigan Radio %C Ann Arbor, MI %V 2017 %G eng %U http://michiganradio.org/post/dementia-rates-are-declining-and-education-could-have-lot-do-it %0 Journal Article %J Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics %D 2017 %T The educational, racial and gender crossovers in life satisfaction: Findings from the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study. %A Wei Zhang %A Kathryn L. Braun %A Wu, Yan Yan %K Education %K Gender Differences %K Life Satisfaction %K Racial/ethnic differences %X

OBJECTIVE: To examine variations in life satisfaction by education, gender, and race/ethnicity over a period of eight years among middle-aged and older Americans.

METHODS: Mixed-effects models were used to analyze five waves (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014) of longitudinal data from 16,163 participants born 1890-1953 in the U.S. Health and Retirement Study.

RESULTS: Life satisfaction was higher in older adults, and the Great Recession had great impact on life satisfaction. Crossover interactions were found by gender, education, and race/ethnicity. Higher education was associated with higher life satisfaction for both genders, with stronger effects for females. Hispanics had the higher level of life satisfaction than non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans.

DISCUSSION: Longitudinal evidence revealed disparities in life satisfaction. The racial/ethnic differences in the impact of education suggest that the economic and health returns of education vary by social group. Researchers should continue to examine reasons for these disparities.

%B Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics %V 73 %P 60-68 %8 11/2017 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28779590?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.archger.2017.07.014 %0 Journal Article %J Economics of Education Review %D 2017 %T The Effect of Vietnam-Era Conscription and Genetic Potential for Educational Attainment on Schooling Outcomes. %A Lauren L Schmitz %A Dalton C Conley %K Education %K Genetics %K GWAS %K PGS %K Veterans %X This study examines whether draft lottery estimates of the causal effects of Vietnam-era military service on schooling vary by an individual's genetic propensity toward educational attainment. To capture the complex genetic architecture that underlies the bio-developmental pathways, behavioral traits and evoked environments associated with educational attainment, we construct polygenic scores (PGS) for respondents in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) that aggregate thousands of individual loci across the human genome and weight them by effect sizes derived from a recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) of years of education. Our findings suggest veterans with below average PGSs for educational attainment may have completed fewer years of schooling than comparable non-veterans. On the other hand, we do not find any difference in the educational attainment of veterans and non-veterans with above average PGSs. Results indicate that public policies and exogenous environments may induce heterogeneous treatment effects by genetic disposition. %B Economics of Education Review %V 61 %P 85-97 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29375175?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.10.001 %0 Journal Article %J Nature Communications %D 2017 %T Genome-wide meta-analysis associates HLA-DQA1/DRB1 and LPA and lifestyle factors with human longevity. %A Joshi, Peter K %A Nicola Pirastu %A Kentistou, Katherine A %A Fischer, Krista %A Edith Hofer %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Clark, David W %A Nutile, Teresa %A Barnes, Catriona L K %A Paul Rhj Timmers %A Shen, Xia %A Gandin, Ilaria %A McDaid, Aaron F %A Hansen, Thomas Folkmann %A Gordon, Scott D %A Giulianini, Franco %A Boutin, Thibaud S %A Abdellaoui, Abdel %A Zhao, Wei %A Medina-Gomez, Carolina %A Traci M Bartz %A Trompet, Stella %A Leslie A Lange %A Raffield, Laura %A van der Spek, Ashley %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Proitsi, Petroula %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Payton, Antony %A Murgia, Federico %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Biino, Ginevra %A Tajuddin, Salman M %A Seppälä, Ilkka %A Amin, Najaf %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Børglum, Anders D %A Campbell, Archie %A Ellen W Demerath %A Demuth, Ilja %A Jessica Faul %A Ford, Ian %A Gialluisi, Alessandro %A Gögele, Martin %A Graff, Mariaelisa %A Aroon Hingorani %A Jouke-Jan Hottenga %A Hougaard, David M %A Hurme, Mikko A %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Jylhä, Marja %A Kuh, Diana %A Ligthart, Lannie %A Lill, Christina M %A Lindenberger, Ulman %A Lumley, Thomas %A Mägi, Reedik %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Sarah E Medland %A Lili Milani %A Nagy, Reka %A William E R Ollier %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Ridker, Paul M %A Fernando Rivadeneira %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Saba, Yasaman %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schmidt, Helena %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Smith, Blair H %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth %A van Rooij, Frank J A %A Verbeek, André L %A Vermeulen, Sita H %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Wang, Yunpeng %A Werge, Thomas %A Whitfield, John B %A Alan B Zonderman %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Michele K Evans %A Pirastu, Mario %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Bertram, Lars %A Pendleton, Neil %A Sharon L R Kardia %A Ciullo, Marina %A Becker, Diane M %A Wong, Andrew %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Cornelia M van Duijn %A Wilson, James G %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Lambertus A Kiemeney %A André G Uitterlinden %A Franceschini, Nora %A Kari E North %A David R Weir %A Andres Metspalu %A Dorret I Boomsma %A Caroline Hayward %A Daniel I Chasman %A Nicholas G Martin %A Sattar, Naveed %A Campbell, Harry %A Tõnu Esko %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A James F Wilson %K Alleles %K Body Mass Index %K Coronary Disease %K Education %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K HLA-DQ alpha-Chains %K HLA-DRB1 Chains %K Humans %K Insulin Resistance %K Life Style %K Lipoprotein(a) %K Lipoproteins, HDL %K Longevity %K Lung Neoplasms %K Obesity %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Smoking %K Socioeconomic factors %X

Genomic analysis of longevity offers the potential to illuminate the biology of human aging. Here, using genome-wide association meta-analysis of 606,059 parents' survival, we discover two regions associated with longevity (HLA-DQA1/DRB1 and LPA). We also validate previous suggestions that APOE, CHRNA3/5, CDKN2A/B, SH2B3 and FOXO3A influence longevity. Next we show that giving up smoking, educational attainment, openness to new experience and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels are most positively genetically correlated with lifespan while susceptibility to coronary artery disease (CAD), cigarettes smoked per day, lung cancer, insulin resistance and body fat are most negatively correlated. We suggest that the effect of education on lifespan is principally mediated through smoking while the effect of obesity appears to act via CAD. Using instrumental variables, we suggest that an increase of one body mass index unit reduces lifespan by 7 months while 1 year of education adds 11 months to expected lifespan.Variability in human longevity is genetically influenced. Using genetic data of parental lifespan, the authors identify associations at HLA-DQA/DRB1 and LPA and find that genetic variants that increase educational attainment have a positive effect on lifespan whereas increasing BMI negatively affects lifespan.

%B Nature Communications %V 8 %P 910 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41467-017-00934-5 %0 Journal Article %J Ageing and Society %D 2017 %T The impact of health and education on future labour force participation among individuals aged 55–74 in the United States of America: the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society %A David Rehkopf %A Nancy E Adler %A John W Rowe %K Education %K Employment and Labor Force %K Population Health %K Retirement Planning and Satisfaction %X Chronic disease, mobility limitations and low physical functioning are determinants of an earlier age of retirement. Therefore, long-term population trends in these factors may have an impact on the proportion of individuals near traditional retirement age who continue to work. Our objective is to develop a projection model that accounts for trends in these factors in order to estimate the proportion of the population aged 55–74 with the capacity to participate in the labour force. We used logistic regression models to quantify how chronic disease, mobility and functional status predict labour force participation among individuals aged 55–59. Next, we obtained estimates of the population prevalence of each of these predictors for the years 2010–2050. We then used estimated coefficients from the logistic regression models to predict the age-specific probability of capacity for work up to the age of 74. We find that population capacity for work depends on trends in disability and on level of education. Future population capacity for work depends on trends in functional limitations primarily in the population with lower levels of education. Changes in functional limitations, changes in the environment, technology and social policy targeted towards individuals with lower levels of education could result in mitigation of future decreasing capacity for work in the population near retirement age. %B Ageing and Society %V 37 %P 1313-1337 %G eng %U https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0144686X16000295/type/journal_articlehttps://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0144686X16000295 %N 07 %! Ageing and Society %R 10.1017/S0144686X16000295 %0 Thesis %B Department of Sociology %D 2017 %T The Intergenerational Transmission of Educational Attainment Revisited: The Effects of Socioeconomic Background, Genetic Inheritance, and Cohort %A Meng-Jung Lin %K Education %K Genetics %K Socioeconomic factors %X This research revisits the intertwined social and biological pathways of the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment. By estimating the effects of the whole-genome genetic variants by the continuation ratio logit regressions using 8,251 samples from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), and considering for socioeconomic status in childhood on education at the same time, I first examine the relative individual impacts of biological and social influences. Then, I consider how parental education shapes the expression of the genetic potential by including moderating effects between the two. Finally, I explore the curvilinear trend of genetic effects over time, and use cohort separated models to investigate the decline in the moderating effects of parental education on educational attainment. The findings suggest the influences are from both genes and family socioeconomic background. Also, the genetic effects were not only negatively moderated by socioeconomic background, but changed curvilinearly over time corresponding to the expansion of higher education in the mid-twentieth century in the U.S. The pattern indicates the educational opportunities equalized at first but saturated after higher education became more accessible. This study furthers the understanding of the social mobility process and provides suggestions for policymakers on education. %B Department of Sociology %I University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School %C Chapel Hill, NC %V Master of Arts %G eng %U https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/indexablecontent/uuid:d4cc50cc-f6a5-42ec-82d4-8a9ae22ee73b %9 Thesis %0 Report %D 2017 %T The Long Reach of Education: Health, Wealth, and DI Participation %A James M. Poterba %A Steven F Venti %A David A Wise %K Education %K Health Conditions and Status %K Older Adults %K Wealth %X Education is strongly related to participation in the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program. To explore this relationship, we describe the correlation between education and DI participation, and then explore how four factors related to education - health, wealth, occupation, and employment - feature in this correlation. We label these four factors “pathway” variables. We find that a large component of the relationship between education and DI participation - more than one-third for men, and over two-thirds for women - can be attributed to the correlation of education with health, and of health with DI receipt. We use data from the Health and Retirement Study for the 1992-2012 period to explore the corresponding roles for each of the pathway variables, and also to study how changes over time in these variables, such as the widening gap between the health status of those with high and low educational attainment, have affected DI participation. %B NBER Working Paper Series %I National Bureau of Economic Research %C Cambridge, MA %8 04/2017 %G eng %U http://www.nber.org/papers/w23307.pdf %R 10.3386/w23307 %0 Journal Article %J SSM - Population Health %D 2017 %T The role of literacy in the association between educational attainment and depressive symptoms %A Thu T Nguyen %A Eric J. Tchetgen Tchetgen %A Ichiro Kawachi %A Stephen E. Gilman %A Stefan Walter %A M. Maria Glymour %K Depressive symptoms %K Education %K Literacy %X There is a consistent association between education and depressive symptoms, but research on the mechanisms to explain this association remains limited. No study has formally evaluated the extent to which the association between education and depressive symptoms is mediated through a foundational skill such as literacy. Inverse odds ratio weighting (IORW) was used to estimate total, natural direct, and natural indirect effects in examining literacy as a mediator of the association between education and depressive symptoms. Health and Retirement Study participants born in the U.S. between 1900 and 1947 were interviewed biennially for up to 12 years (N = 16,718). Literacy was assessed with a brief vocabulary measure. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 8-item Centers for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. Decomposition estimates were derived using regression analyses of repeated measures of depressive symptoms. Standard errors were obtained using a nonparametric bootstrap with the individual as the independent unit to account for dependence of observations within an individual. In a large cohort of older Americans, a one standard deviation difference in educational attainment (~ 3 years) was associated with a 0.35-point decrement in CES-D score (95% CI: -0.38, -0.32). This decrement represents a 0.22 standard deviation difference in depressive symptoms. Using IORW, the estimated effect of education on depressive symptoms mediated through literacy was -0.10 (95% CI: -0.18, -0.01), which represents 28% of the total effect. Education confers many benefits; as demonstrated by this study for depressive symptoms, one important benefit is literacy. %B SSM - Population Health %V 3 %P 586-593 %G eng %U http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352827316301197http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2352827316301197?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2352827316301197?httpAccept=text/plain %! SSM - Population Health %R 10.1016/j.ssmph.2017.07.002 %0 Report %D 2017 %T Smoking, Education and the Ability to Predict Own Survival Probabilities: An Observational Study on US Data %A Bruno Arpino %A Valeria Bordone %A Sergei Scherbov %K Education %K Life Expectancy %K Smoking %X Background: Subjective survival probabilities (SSPs) are a good predictor of mortality, go beyond the aggregate description of survival defined by life tables, and are important for individuals’ decision-making in later life. Despite the well-known mortality differentials by education as well as by characteristics such as smoking, little investigation has focused on SSPs by population sub-groups. Methods: We use data on individuals aged 50-89 from the Health and Retirement Study(HRS) carried out in the USA between 2000 and 2012 (N=23,895). Each respondent was asked to assess the probability to survive to a given target age according to their age at the time of the survey. We assess how individuals’ SSPs and estimated objective survival probabilities (OSPs) vary by education and smoking and calculate, for each respondent, the gap between them. Results: Consistently with real mortality patterns, smokers report the lowest SSPs, both among lower and higher educated people. When comparing SSPs and OSPs we find that, irrespectively of the smoking status, higher educated people are more likely to correctly predict their survival probabilities than their lower educated counterparts. Within both education groups, past smokers better predict their survival probability. Current smokers with low education show the highest probability to overestimate their survival probability. Conclusions: Lower educated people and smokers are aware of their lower life expectancy. Still, they overestimate their survival probabilities more than the higher educated and non-smokers. Our findings emphasize the need for policy makers to disseminate information about the risks of smoking, targeting people with lower education. %B IIASA Working Paper %I International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis %C Laxenburg, Austria %G eng %U http://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/14692/ %0 Report %D 2016 %T Assortative Mating on Education: A Genetic Assessment %A Nicola Barban %A De Cao, Elisabetta %A Oreffice, Sonia %A Quintana-Domeque, Climent %K Aging %K Education %K Gender Differences %K Marriage %X Social scientists have overwhelmingly documented a strong and increasing educational homogamy between spouses. When estimating sorting by education, the presence of measurement error in the education variables or random factors in the matching process may underestimate the actual degree of assortative mating, simultaneity bias may overestimate it, while omitting other individual characteristics relevant in the marriage market may under- or overestimate it. We address these issues using an instrumental variables approach based on exploiting genetic variation in polygenic scores and controlling for population stratification. Specifically, we instrument spousal education with his/her educational polygenic score while controlling for own educational polygenic score. If the exclusion restriction is satisfied, our findings indicate that (1) assortative mating is underestimated when using OLS, and that (2) male education is correlated with other matching-relevant socioeconomic characteristics, while female education is productive per se in the matching. If the exclusion restriction is not satisfied, our evidence is consistent with (2). This suggests that individual socioeconomic attractiveness in the marriage market is multidimensional for men, but can be summarized with education for women. %B University of Oxford Department of Economics Discussion Paper Series %I Department of Economics, University of Oxford %C Oxford %P 1-42 %G eng %U http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/810373/1/paper-791.pdf %0 Thesis %B Economics %D 2016 %T Essays on healthy aging from the perspective of a health production function %A Nasim B Ferdows %K 0351:Gerontology %K 0501:Economics %K 0680:Health education %K Childhood %K Economics %K Education %K Gerontology %K Health behaviors %K Health education %K healthy aging %K Indirect effects %K Production function %K Social Sciences %K Successful aging %X This dissertation examines the determinants of healthy aging among older adults using Grossman’s framework of a health production function. Healthy aging is produced using a variety of inputs, including some determined in early life, such as health and socioeconomic status as a child, others determined in young adulthood, such as education, others determined in mid-life, such as household wealth, and still others determined in later-life, such as current health habits. A production function for healthy aging is estimated using nationally representative data from the 2010 Health and Retirement Study on non-institutionalized seniors, and positing a simultaneous equations mediation model, recognizing that childhood outcomes influence adulthood outcomes, which in turn influence healthy aging. I quantify how childhood factors contribute to healthy aging, both directly and indirectly through these effects on mediating adult outcomes. The importance of current health habits to healthy aging are also examined. The results indicate that favorable childhood conditions significantly improve healthy aging scores, both directly and indirectly, mediated through education, income, and wealth. Moreover, good health habits have positive effects on healthy aging that are larger in magnitude than the effects of childhood factors. The findings suggest that exercising, maintaining a proper weight, and not smoking can more than compensate for unfavorable conditions experienced as a child. %B Economics %I Wayne State University %C Detroit, MI %V PhD %P 114 %@ 9781369435030 %G eng %U https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/1622/ %9 phd %0 Thesis %B Adult, Career and Higher Education %D 2016 %T Financial Literacy Continuing Professional Education Cognitive Needs Assessment for Florida Small Business Owners %A Dahmen, Pearl J. %K Cognitive Ability %K Education %K Financial literacy %K Gender Differences %K Older Adults %K Small business owners %K Women and Minorities %X The purpose of this study was to assess the financial literacy continuing profession education cognitive needs of Florida small business owners through exploring their profile. To determine the financial literacy profile, an instrument containing 18 tested knowledge and 5 self-assessed knowledge questions was created. Using a panel of experts, the instrument was developed from previously tested financial literacy questions from several sources. Data were collected from clients of the West Central Region of the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida. The online survey completed by participants included demographic questions to provide data to profile small business owners’ financial literacy by gender, age, education level, and small business classification. The results indicated small business owners have a high financial literacy. There were significant differences found between the financial literacy of men and women. Men’s scores were higher for both tested knowledge and self-assessed knowledge. Younger small business owners scored lower than older small business owners. There were significant scoring differences between the highest and lowest levels of education. Tested scores and self-assessed scores increased with higher education levels. Pre-venture/start-up business owners scored lower than the small-medium enterprise owners. Implications included developing educational programs attentive to women small business owner’s needs, as well as newer and/or younger small business owners. %B Adult, Career and Higher Education %I University of South Florida %V Ph.D. %P 449 %@ 9781339617862 %G eng %U http://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1781654615?accountid=14667 %9 Dissertation %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2016 %T Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. %A Okbay, Aysu %A Jonathan P. Beauchamp %A Mark Alan Fontana %A Lee, James J %A Pers, Tune H %A Cornelius A Rietveld %A Turley, Patrick %A Chen, Guo-Bo %A Emilsson, Valur %A Meddens, S Fleur W %A Oskarsson, Sven %A Pickrell, Joseph K %A Thom, Kevin %A Pascal N Timshel %A de Vlaming, Ronald %A Abdel Abdellaoui %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Bacelis, Jonas %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Bjornsdottir, Gyda %A Brandsma, Johannes H %A Maria Pina Concas %A Derringer, Jaime %A Furlotte, Nicholas A %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Giorgia G Girotto %A Gupta, Richa %A Hall, Leanne M %A Sarah E Harris %A Edith Hofer %A Horikoshi, Momoko %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Kaasik, Kadri %A Ioanna Panagiota Kalafati %A Karlsson, Robert %A Kong, Augustine %A Lahti, Jari %A Sven J van der Lee %A Christiaan de Leeuw %A Penelope A Lind %A Lindgren, Karl-Oskar %A Tian Liu %A Mangino, Massimo %A Marten, Jonathan %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Michael B Miller %A van der Most, Peter J %A Christopher J Oldmeadow %A Payton, Antony %A Pervjakova, Natalia %A Wouter J Peyrot %A Qian, Yong %A Olli T Raitakari %A Rueedi, Rico %A Salvi, Erika %A Schmidt, Börge %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Jianxin Shi %A Albert Vernon Smith %A Poot, Raymond A %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Verweij, Niek %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Jürgen Wellmann %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Yang, Jingyun %A Wei Zhao %A Zhihong Zhu %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %A Amin, Najaf %A Bakshi, Andrew %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Biino, Ginevra %A Bønnelykke, Klaus %A Patricia A. Boyle %A Campbell, Harry %A Cappuccio, Francesco P %A Gail Davies %A De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel %A Deloukas, Panos %A Demuth, Ilja %A Ding, Jun %A Eibich, Peter %A Eisele, Lewin %A Eklund, Niina %A Jessica Faul %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Andreas J Forstner %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gunnarsson, Bjarni %A Halldórsson, Bjarni V %A Tamara B Harris %A Andrew C Heath %A Lynne J Hocking %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Homuth, Georg %A Horan, Michael A %A Jouke-Jan Hottenga %A Philip L de Jager %A Joshi, Peter K %A Jugessur, Astanand %A Marika A Kaakinen %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Keltigangas-Järvinen, Liisa %A Lambertus A Kiemeney %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Kroh, Martin %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Latvala, Antti %A Lenore J Launer %A Lebreton, Maël P %A Douglas F Levinson %A Paul Lichtenstein %A Lichtner, Peter %A David C Liewald %A Loukola, Anu %A Pamela A F Madden %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mäki-Opas, Tomi %A Riccardo E Marioni %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Meddens, Gerardus A %A McMahon, George %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Milaneschi, Yusplitri %A Lili Milani %A Grant W Montgomery %A Myhre, Ronny %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Nyholt, Dale R %A William E R Ollier %A Aarno Palotie %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Nancy L Pedersen %A Katja E Petrovic %A David J Porteous %A Katri Räikkönen %A Ring, Susan M %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rostapshova, Olga %A Rudan, Igor %A Rustichini, Aldo %A Veikko Salomaa %A Sanders, Alan R %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Helena %A Rodney J Scott %A Smith, Blair H %A Jennifer A Smith %A Staessen, Jan A %A Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Antonio Terracciano %A Tobin, Martin D %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A Quaye, Lydia %A van Rooij, Frank J A %A Venturini, Cristina %A Anna A E Vinkhuyzen %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Vonk, Judith M %A Vozzi, Diego %A Waage, Johannes %A Erin B Ware %A Gonneke Willemsen %A John R. Attia %A David A Bennett %A Klaus Berger %A Bertram, Lars %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Dorret I Boomsma %A Ingrid B Borecki %A Bültmann, Ute %A Chabris, Christopher F %A Francesco Cucca %A Cusi, Daniele %A Ian J Deary %A George Dedoussis %A Cornelia M van Duijn %A Johan G Eriksson %A Franke, Barbara %A Lude L Franke %A Paolo P. Gasparini %A Gejman, Pablo V %A Gieger, Christian %A Hans-Jörgen Grabe %A Gratten, Jacob %A Groenen, Patrick J F %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A van der Harst, Pim %A Caroline Hayward %A Hinds, David A %A Hoffmann, Wolfgang %A Hyppönen, Elina %A Iacono, William G %A Jacobsson, Bo %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jöckel, Karl-Heinz %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Sharon L R Kardia %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lehrer, Steven F %A Patrik K E Magnusson %A Nicholas G Martin %A McGue, Matt %A Andres Metspalu %A Pendleton, Neil %A Brenda W J H Penninx %A Markus Perola %A Nicola Pirastu %A Pirastu, Mario %A Polasek, Ozren %A Posthuma, Danielle %A Power, Christine %A Province, Michael A %A Nilesh J Samani %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Thorkild I. A. Sørensen %A Timothy Spector %A Stefansson, Kari %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A A. Roy Thurik %A Nicholas J Timpson %A Henning Tiemeier %A Tung, Joyce Y %A André G Uitterlinden %A Vitart, Veronique %A Vollenweider, Peter %A David R Weir %A James F Wilson %A Alan F Wright %A Dalton C Conley %A Krueger, Robert F %A George Davey Smith %A Hofman, Albert %A David I Laibson %A Sarah E Medland %A Meyer, Michelle N %A Yang, Jian %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Peter M Visscher %A Tõnu Esko %A Philipp D Koellinger %A Cesarini, David %A Daniel J. Benjamin %K Alzheimer's disease %K Bipolar Disorder %K Cognitive Ability %K Education %K Fetus %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Molecular Sequence Annotation %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Schizophrenia %K United Kingdom %X

Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.

%B Nature %V 533 %P 539-42 %8 2016 05 26 %G eng %N 7604 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27225129?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature17671 %0 Magazine Article %D 2016 %T NIH-funded study identifies genetic links to educational attainment %K Alzheimer's disease %K Cognition & Reasoning %K Cognitive Ability %K Education %K Genetics %X The study team regards this study as preliminary and exploratory. Because educational attainment is a complex phenomenon, there are many additional sources of molecular genetic variation to be discovered. %B PharmaBiz %I Athena Information Solutions Pvt. Ltd. %C Mumbai %8 2016 May 13 %G English %U http://proxy.lib.umich.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1788539283?accountid=14667http://mgetit.lib.umich.edu/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/ProQ%3Aabitrade&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genr %M 1788539283 %! NIH-funded study identifies genetic links to educational attainment %0 Journal Article %J Demography %D 2016 %T Reporting Heterogeneity and Health Disparities Across Gender and Education Levels: Evidence From Four Countries %A Molina, Teresa %K CHARLS %K Education %K ELSA %K Gender Differences %K IFLS %K Psychosocial %K Self-perception %X I use anchoring vignettes from Indonesia, the United States, England, and China to study the extent to which differences in self-reported health across gender and education levels can be explained by the use of different response thresholds. To determine whether statistically significant differences between groups remain after adjusting thresholds, I calculate standard errors for the simulated probabilities, largely ignored in previous literature. Accounting for reporting heterogeneity reduces the gender gap in many health domains across the four countries, but to varying degrees. Health disparities across education levels persist and even widen after equalizing thresholds across the two groups. %B Demography %V 53 %P 295 - 323 %8 Jan-04-2016 %G eng %U http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13524-016-0456-zhttp://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13524-016-0456-zhttp://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s13524-016-0456-z.pdfhttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-016-0456-z/fulltext.html %N 2 %! Demography %R 10.1007/s13524-016-0456-z %0 Conference Paper %B European Population Conference 2016 %D 2016 %T Subjective Life Expectancy: Differences by Smoking, Education and Gender %A Sergei Scherbov %A Bruno Arpino %A Valeria Bordone %K Education %K Gender Differences %K Longevity %K Mortality %K Older Adults %K Smoking %X Despite the well-known higher mortality rates among smokers than non-smokers, little investigation has focused on subjective survival probabilities (SSP) by smoking behaviour. We give attention to sub-group differences in subjective survival probabilities, comparing subjective predictions to objective ones (SP) and accounting for the role of education. We use biannual data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from 2000 to 2012 carried out in the USA. Based on a sample of 23,895 respondents aged 50-89, we calculate, for each respondent, the “gap” between SSP and the estimated survival probability (SP) from the HRS data. We find that people currently smoking report lower survival probabilities especially if they are low educated. This is consistent with real mortality data that show higher mortality among these groups. When comparing subjective and objective survival probabilities we find that irrespectively of the smoking status, high educated people are more likely to correctly predict their survival probabilities than their low educated counterparts. Within education groups, people who smoked in the past are the best at predicting their mortality. Interestingly, those who currently smoke show the highest probability to incorrectly overestimate their survival probability (i.e., to underestimate the negative effect of smoking on mortality). %B European Population Conference 2016 %G eng %U http://epc2016.princeton.edu/uploads/160554 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2015 %T Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations. %A Joshi, Peter K %A Tõnu Esko %A Mattsson, Hannele %A Eklund, Niina %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Nutile, Teresa %A Jackson, Anne U %A Schurmann, Claudia %A Albert Vernon Smith %A Zhang, Weihua %A Okada, Yukinori %A Stančáková, Alena %A Jessica Faul %A Wei Zhao %A Traci M Bartz %A Maria Pina Concas %A Franceschini, Nora %A Enroth, Stefan %A Vitart, Veronique %A Trompet, Stella %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Daniel I Chasman %A Jeff O'Connell %A Corre, Tanguy %A Nongmaithem, Suraj S %A Chen, Yuning %A Mangino, Massimo %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Traglia, Michela %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Kacprowski, Tim %A Bjonnes, Andrew %A van der Spek, Ashley %A Wu, Ying %A Giri, Anil K %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Wang, Lihua %A Edith Hofer %A Cornelius A Rietveld %A McLeod, Olga %A Marilyn C Cornelis %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Verweij, Niek %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Abdel Abdellaoui %A Warren, Helen R %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Mei, Hao %A Bouchard, Claude %A Perry, John R B %A Cappellani, Stefania %A Saira S Mirza %A Benton, Miles C %A Broeckel, Ulrich %A Sarah E Medland %A Penelope A Lind %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Alexander W Drong %A Yengo, Loic %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Zhi, Degui %A van der Most, Peter J %A Daniel Shriner %A Mägi, Reedik %A Hemani, Gibran %A Karaderi, Tugce %A Wang, Zhaoming %A Tian Liu %A Demuth, Ilja %A Jing Hua Zhao %A Meng, Weihua %A Lataniotis, Lazaros %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Bradfield, Jonathan P %A Andrew R Wood %A Bonnefond, Amelie %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Hall, Leanne M %A Salvi, Erika %A Yazar, Seyhan %A Carstensen, Lisbeth %A de Haan, Hugoline G %A Abney, Mark %A Afzal, Uzma %A Matthew A. Allison %A Amin, Najaf %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Barr, R Graham %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Daniel J. Benjamin %A Bergmann, Sven %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Erwin P Bottinger %A Campbell, Archie %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chan, Yingleong %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Chen, Constance %A Yii-Der I Chen %A Collins, Francis S %A Connell, John %A Correa, Adolfo %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Gail Davies %A Dörr, Marcus %A Georg B Ehret %A Ellis, Stephen B %A Feenstra, Bjarke %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Ford, Ian %A Caroline S Fox %A Timothy M Frayling %A Friedrich, Nele %A Geller, Frank %A Scotland, Generation %A Gillham-Nasenya, Irina %A Gottesman, Omri %A Graff, Misa %A Grodstein, Francine %A Gu, Charles %A Haley, Chris %A Hammond, Christopher J %A Sarah E Harris %A Tamara B Harris %A Nicholas D Hastie %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Lynne J Hocking %A Homuth, Georg %A Jouke-Jan Hottenga %A Huang, Jinyan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hysi, Pirro G %A Mohammed Arfan Ikram %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Joensuu, Anni %A Johansson, Åsa %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Kerr, Shona M %A Khan, Nazir M %A Philipp D Koellinger %A Koistinen, Heikki A %A Kooner, Manraj K %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Lahti, Jari %A Lenore J Launer %A Lea, Rodney A %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A David C Liewald %A Lars Lind %A Loh, Marie %A Lokki, Marja-Liisa %A London, Stephanie J %A Loomis, Stephanie J %A Loukola, Anu %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lumley, Thomas %A Lundqvist, Annamari %A Männistö, Satu %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Masciullo, Corrado %A Matchan, Angela %A Mathias, Rasika A %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Meigs, James B %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Menni, Cristina %A Mentch, Frank D %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Lili Milani %A Montasser, May E %A Grant W Montgomery %A Alanna C Morrison %A Myers, Richard H %A Nadukuru, Rajiv %A Navarro, Pau %A Nelis, Mari %A Nieminen, Markku S %A Ilja M Nolte %A O'Connor, George T %A Ogunniyi, Adesola %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Walter R Palmas %A Pankow, James S %A Patarcic, Inga %A Pavani, Francesca %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Pietilainen, Kirsi %A Neil Poulter %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Ralhan, Sarju %A Redmond, Paul %A Rich, Stephen S %A Rissanen, Harri %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rose, Richard %A Cinzia Felicita Sala %A Babatunde Salako %A Veikko Salomaa %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Saxena, Richa %A Schmidt, Helena %A Scott, Laura J %A Scott, William R %A Sennblad, Bengt %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Peter Sever %A Shrestha, Smeeta %A Smith, Blair H %A Jennifer A Smith %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Southam, Lorraine %A Stanton, Alice V %A Stathopoulou, Maria G %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Suderman, Matthew J %A Tandon, Nikhil %A Tang, Sian-Tsun %A Kent D Taylor %A Bamidele O Tayo %A Töglhofer, Anna Maria %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Tšernikova, Natalia %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A André G Uitterlinden %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid %A van Setten, Jessica %A Vasankari, Tuula %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Vlachopoulou, Efthymia %A Vozzi, Diego %A Vuoksimaa, Eero %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Erin B Ware %A Wentworth-Shields, William %A Whitfield, John B %A Sarah Wild %A Gonneke Willemsen %A Yajnik, Chittaranjan S %A Yao, Jie %A Zaza, Gianluigi %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Salem, Rany M %A Melbye, Mads %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Nilesh J Samani %A Cusi, Daniele %A Mackey, David A %A Cooper, Richard S %A Froguel, Philippe %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Grant, Struan F A %A Hakonarson, Hakon %A Luigi Ferrucci %A Scott, Robert A %A Morris, Andrew D %A Palmer, Colin N A %A George Dedoussis %A Deloukas, Panos %A Bertram, Lars %A Lindenberger, Ulman %A Berndt, Sonja I %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Nicholas J Timpson %A Tönjes, Anke %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Thorkild I. A. Sørensen %A Charles N Rotimi %A Donna K Arnett %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Sharon L R Kardia %A Balkau, Beverley %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Morris, Andrew P %A Johan G Eriksson %A Margaret J Wright %A Nicholas G Martin %A Hunt, Steven C %A John M Starr %A Ian J Deary %A Griffiths, Lyn R %A Henning Tiemeier %A Nicola Pirastu %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Pérusse, Louis %A Wilson, James G %A Giorgia G Girotto %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Olli T Raitakari %A Dorret I Boomsma %A Gieger, Christian %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Kraft, Peter %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Knekt, Paul %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Patrik K E Magnusson %A Hamsten, Anders %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Ingrid B Borecki %A Vartiainen, Erkki %A Becker, Diane M %A Bharadwaj, Dwaipayan %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Boehnke, Michael %A Cornelia M van Duijn %A Sanghera, Dharambir K %A Teumer, Alexander %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Andres Metspalu %A Paolo P. Gasparini %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Ober, Carole %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Rudan, Igor %A David J Porteous %A Ciullo, Marina %A Timothy Spector %A Caroline Hayward %A Dupuis, Josée %A Ruth J F Loos %A Alan F Wright %A Chandak, Giriraj R %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Alan R Shuldiner %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Sattar, Naveed %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Kari E North %A Pirastu, Mario %A Psaty, Bruce M %A David R Weir %A Laakso, Markku %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Takahashi, Atsushi %A Chambers, John C %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A David P Strachan %A Campbell, Harry %A Joel N Hirschhron %A Markus Perola %A Polasek, Ozren %A James F Wilson %K Biological Evolution %K Blood pressure %K Body Height %K Cholesterol %K Cognitive Ability %K Cohort Studies %K Education %K Female %K Forced Expiratory Volume %K Genome %K Homozygote %K Humans %K Lung Volume Measurements %K Male %K Phenotype %X

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power. Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 × 10(-300), 2.1 × 10(-6), 2.5 × 10(-10) and 1.8 × 10(-10), respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months' less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.

%B Nature %V 523 %P 459-62 %8 2015 Jul 23 %G eng %N 7561 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26131930?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature14618 %0 Journal Article %J The Journal of the Economics of Ageing %D 2015 %T The long reach of education: Early retirement %A Steven F Venti %A David A Wise %K disability insurance %K Education %K Retirement %K Social Security %X The goal of this paper is to draw attention to the long lasting effect of education on economic outcomes. We use the relationship between education and two routes to early retirement – the receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and the early claiming of Social Security retirement benefits – to illustrate the long-lasting influence of education. We find that for both men and women with less than a high school degree the median DI participation rate is 6.6 times the participation rate for those with a college degree or more. Similarly, men and women with less than a high school education are over 25 percentage points more likely to claim Social Security benefits early than those with a college degree or more. We focus on four critical “pathways” through which education may indirectly influence early retirement – health, employment, earnings, and the accumulation of assets. We find that for women health is the dominant pathway through which education influences DI participation. For men, the health, earnings, and wealth pathways are of roughly equal magnitude. For both men and women the principal channel through which education influences early Social Security claiming decisions is the earnings pathway. We also consider the direct effect of education that does not operate through these pathways. The direct effect of education is much greater for early claiming of Social Security benefits than for DI participation, accounting for 72% of the effect of education for men and 67% for women. For women the direct effect of education on DI participation is not statistically significant, suggesting that the total effect may be through the four pathways. %B The Journal of the Economics of Ageing %V 6 %P 133 - 148 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X15000201 %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeoa.2015.08.001 %0 Journal Article %J The Journal of the Economics of Ageing %D 2014 %T Education, brain health, and improving life opportunities for women %A Kenneth M. Langa %A Eric B Larson %K Education %K Gender Differences %K Life opportunities %K Older Adults %K Women and Minorities %X The paper by Lei et al. in this issue adds to the growing body of empirical evidence that education and cognitive stimulation, both in early-life and in later-life, seem especially important for cognitive health and the prevention of cognitive decline with aging. The expanding educational opportunities for girls and women in developing countries such as China over the last few decades appear to have played an important role in improving their cognitive health and, in turn, have likely expanded their opportunities to participate more fully and successfully in both work and social roles. While “curing” dementia in the coming decades seems unlikely, decreasing the risk of cognitive impairment and disability in both developed and developing countries through increasing education, life-long cognitive stimulation, and improved control of cardiovascular risk appears achievable. Success would benefit people of all ages by keeping older adults more independent and productive, and minimizing the burden of support on younger generations. %B The Journal of the Economics of Ageing %V 4 %P 56 - 58 %8 Jan-12-2014 %G eng %U http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2212828X14000176http://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2212828X14000176?httpAccept=text/xmlhttp://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S2212828X14000176?httpAccept=text/plain %! The Journal of the Economics of Ageing %R 10.1016/j.jeoa.2014.08.001 %0 Thesis %D 2014 %T Public policy and postsecondary education %A Dubnicki, Alissa L. %Y Gary London Andrew Engelhardt %K Demographics %K Education %K Event History/Life Cycle %K Net Worth and Assets %K Pensions %K Public Policy %X Chapter 1 . This paper presents estimates of the impact of educational saving incentives on college saving decisions from the Michigan SEED Program, a field experiment that targeted low-income families with young children. The treatment group was offered initial deposits of as much as $1,000 in the child's name into the state-sponsored 529 college savings plan when the child was 4 years old. Additional deposits by the treatment group were matched dollar for dollar. After four years, or when the children were 8 years old, 529 plan ownership was 59 percentage points higher for treatment- relative to control-group families. In addition, 22% of treatment-group families contributed their own funds, and, among these, the average family contribution was $440 during that period. For every dollar saved in a 529 plan, total college saving increased 25-45 cents, indicating 55-75% crowd-out. Chapter 2 . This paper presents estimates of the impact of student eligibility for federal financial aid on total student debt. I exploit a natural experiment created by the 1992 Amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965, which removed assets from the calculation of federal aid eligibility for families with earned income of less than $50,000. Overall, my estimates suggest that expansions in federal student aid eligibility have large, significant effects on total undergraduate debt accumulation. Each dollar of federal aid eligibility increases student debt by about 40 cents. This relationship is due to new, rather than existing, borrowers. A $1,000 increase in eligibility is predicted to increase the ratio of debt to total price of attendance by 4 percentage points. I find that the effect of federal aid eligibility on debt is significantly higher for those with more exposure to higher education. Based on my central estimates, the expansion in aid eligibility caused by the 1992 Amendment is responsible for about one-third of the growth in total student debt from 1989-90 to 1993-94. Chapter 3 . The experimental and quasi-experimental literature finds few positive effects of financial education on financial behavior and wealth. I posit that the lack of measurable effects may be a result of the underlying relationship between financial literacy and asset accumulation. Theoretical literature suggests that financial education and traditional education are complements in the wealth production function, so the effect of financial education is conditional on years of schooling. To empirically test this theoretical hypothesis, I provide the first experimental evidence on the elasticity of substitution between traditional schooling and financial education in terms of wealth production in this paper. I am able to credibly identify this elasticity with data from the Learn$ave IDA program, a randomized control trial that exogenously shifted the costs of these inputs to wealth production. Using a dual translog cost function specification, I estimate an iterated 3SLS strategy to measure individual elasticities of substitution between wealth production inputs. The mean value of all of the individual estimated elasticities of substitution is greater than zero, indicating that, on average, the inputs are substitutes. %I Syracuse University %C Syracuse, NY %V 3620452 %P 142 %8 2014 %G English %U http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/docview/1538122964?accountid=14667http://mgetit.lib.umich.edu/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/ProQuest+Dissertations+%26+Theses+A%26I&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertat %9 Ph.D. %M 1538122964 %4 Public Policy %$ 999999 %! Public policy and postsecondary education %0 Journal Article %J Twin Research and Human Genetics %D 2013 %T The Project TALENT Twin and Sibling Study. %A Carol A Prescott %A Achorn, Deanna Lyter %A Kaiser, Ashley %A Mitchell, Lindsey %A John J McArdle %A Lapham, Susan J %K Education %K Genetics %K GWAS %K Siblings %X Project TALENT is a US national longitudinal study of about 377,000 individuals born in 1942-1946, first assessed in 1960. Students in about 1,200 schools participated in a 2-day battery covering aptitudes, abilities, interests, and individual and family characteristics (Flanagan, 1962; www.projectTALENT.org). Follow-up assessments 1, 5, and 11 years later assessed educational and occupational outcomes. The sample includes approximately 92,000 siblings from 40,000 families, including 2,500 twin pairs and 1,200 other siblings of twins. Until recently, almost no behavior genetic research has been conducted with the sample. In the original data collection information was not collected with the intent to link family members. Recently, we developed algorithms using names, addresses, birthdates, and information about family structure to link siblings and identify twins. We are testing several methods to determine zygosity, including use of yearbook photographs. In this paper, we summarize the design and measures in Project TALENT, describe the Twin and Sibling sample, and present our twin-sib-classmate model. In most twin and family designs, the 'shared environment' includes factors specific to the family combined with between-family differences associated with macro-level variables such as socioeconomic status. The school-based sampling design used in Project TALENT provides a unique opportunity to partition the shared environment into variation shared by siblings, specific to twins, and associated with school- and community-level factors. The availability of many measured characteristics on the family, schools, and neighborhoods enhances the ability to study the impact of specific factors on behavioral variation. %B Twin Research and Human Genetics %V 16 %P 437-448 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23101474?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1017/thg.2012.71 %0 Journal Article %J Demographic Research %D 2012 %T About the role of chronic conditions onto the US educational differences on mortality %A Castro, Ruben %K Chronic conditions %K Education %K Longevity %K Mortality %X Demographers use different models to decompose the prevalence of given health conditions. This article discusses how these models can help us understand the ways in which these conditions affect overall mortality. In particular, this framework can be used to understand the role that any given condition plays in producing differences in overall mortality across populations. The empirical analysis in this study focuses on chronic conditions as factors behind elderly US citizens’ differences in overall mortality across educational levels. The analysis of differences by education level shows that while the prevalence differences of chronic conditions is mostly the outcome of incidence differences, regarding overall mortality differences, the role of chronic conditions is equally channelled through incidence and excess mortality differences. %B Demographic Research %V 27 %P 339 - 364 %G eng %N 12 %R 10.4054/DemRes.2012.27.12 %0 Journal Article %J The Review of Economic Studies %D 2012 %T A New Test of Borrowing Constraints for Education %A Brown, Meta %A John Karl Scholz %A Ananth Seshadri %K Adult children %K Demographics %K Education %K Methodology %X We discuss a simple model in which parents and children make investments in the children's education and investments for other purposes and parents can transfer cash to their children. We show that for an identifiable set of parent-child pairs, parents will rationally underinvest in their child's education. For these parent-child pairs, additional financial aid will increase educational attainment. The model highlights an important feature of higher education finance, the expected family contribution (EFC) that is based on income, assets, and other factors. The EFC is neither legally guaranteed nor universally offered: our model identifies the set of families that are disproportionately likely to not provide their full EFC. Using a common proxy for financial aid, we show, in data from the Health and Retirement Study, that financial aid increases the educational attainment of children whose families are more likely than others to underinvest in education. Financial aid has no effect on the educational attainment of children in other families. The theory and empirical evidence identifies a set of children who face quantitatively important borrowing constraints for higher education. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT %B The Review of Economic Studies %I 79 %V 79 %P 511–538 %G eng %N 2 %4 economic models/higher education/higher education/education finance/education finance/intergenerational transfers/socioeconomic factors %$ 62876 %R 10.1093/restud/rdr032 %0 Report %D 2012 %T Parental Investments in College and Later Cash Transfers %A Steven Haider %A Kathleen McGarry %K Adult children %K Consumption and Savings %K Education %K Public Policy %X The rising cost of college tuition and the accompanying investment parents often make have received considerable attention recently. While classic models in economics make important predictions about the magnitudes of these investments, their distribution across children, and their relationship with later cash transfers, there has been little empirical work examining these predictions, especially with regards to the differential treatment of siblings. Using unique data from a supplement to the Health and Retirement Study, we find that parents typically invest differentially in the schooling of siblings, but we find no evidence that these investments are offset by later cash transfers. %I Cambridge, Mass., National Bureau of Economic Research %G eng %U http://www.nber.org/papers/w18485 %4 Educational Finance/Publicly Provided Goods/intergenerational Transfers/College tuition/Families/siblings %$ 25330 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Pension Economics and Finance %D 2011 %T Financial literacy and retirement planning in the United States %A Annamaria Lusardi %A Olivia S. Mitchell %K Education %K Financial literacy %K Older Adults %K Retirement Planning and Satisfaction %X We examine financial literacy in the US using the new National Financial Capability Study, wherein we demonstrate that financial literacy is particularly low among the young, women, and the less-educated. Moreover, Hispanics and African-Americans score the least well on financial literacy concepts. Interestingly, all groups rate themselves as rather well-informed about financial matters, notwithstanding their actual performance on the key literacy questions. Finally, we show that people who score higher on the financial literacy questions are much more likely to plan for retirement, which is likely to leave them better positioned for old age. Our results will inform those seeking to target financial literacy programmes to those in most need. %B Journal of Pension Economics and Finance %V 10 %P 509 - 525 %G eng %N 04 %R 10.1017/S1474747211000448 %0 Journal Article %J J Am Geriatr Soc %D 2009 %T Functional limitations, socioeconomic status, and all-cause mortality in moderate alcohol drinkers. %A Sei J. Lee %A Rebecca L. Sudore %A Brie A Williams %A Lindquist, Karla %A Helen L. Chen %A Kenneth E Covinsky %K Activities of Daily Living %K Aged %K Alcohol Drinking %K Comorbidity %K Education %K Female %K Humans %K Income %K Male %K Obesity %K Risk Factors %K Sex Factors %K Smoking %K Socioeconomic factors %X

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the survival benefit associated with moderate alcohol use remains after accounting for nontraditional risk factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) and functional limitations.

DESIGN: Prospective cohort.

SETTING: The Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative study of U.S. adults aged 55 and older.

PARTICIPANTS: Twelve thousand five hundred nineteen participants were enrolled in the 2002 wave of the HRS.

MEASUREMENTS: Participants were asked about their alcohol use, functional limitations (activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and mobility), SES (education, income, and wealth), psychosocial factors (depressive symptoms, social support, and the importance of religion), age, sex, race and ethnicity, smoking, obesity, and comorbidities. Death by December 31, 2006, was the outcome measure.

RESULTS: Moderate drinkers (1 drink/d) had a markedly more-favorable risk factor profile, with higher SES and fewer functional limitations. After adjusting for demographic factors, moderate drinking (vs no drinking) was strongly associated with less mortality (odds ratio (OR)=0.50, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.40-0.62). When traditional risk factors (smoking, obesity, and comorbidities) were also adjusted for, the protective effect was slightly attenuated (OR=0.57, 95% CI=0.46-0.72). When all risk factors including functional status and SES were adjusted for, the protective effect was markedly attenuated but still statistically significant (OR=0.72, 95% CI=0.57-0.91).

CONCLUSION: Moderate drinkers have better risk factor profiles than nondrinkers, including higher SES and fewer functional limitations. Although these factors explain much of the survival advantage associated with moderate alcohol use, moderate drinkers maintain their survival advantage even after adjustment for these factors.

%B J Am Geriatr Soc %I 57 %V 57 %P 955-62 %8 2009 Jun %G eng %N 6 %L newpubs20090908_Lee_etal.pdf %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19473456?dopt=Abstract %2 PMC2847409 %4 Alcohol Drinking/socioeconomic status/ADL and IADL Impairments/Mobility/Survival Analysis %$ 20510 %R 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2009.02184.x %0 Journal Article %J Am J Epidemiol %D 2009 %T Trajectories of cognitive function in late life in the United States: demographic and socioeconomic predictors. %A Arun S Karlamangla %A Miller-Martinez, Dana %A Carol S Aneshensel %A Teresa Seeman %A Richard G Wight %A Joshua Chodosh %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Aging %K Black or African American %K Cognition %K Confidence Intervals %K Education %K Female %K Geriatric Assessment %K Hispanic or Latino %K Humans %K Income %K Male %K Marital Status %K Mexican Americans %K Poverty %K Sampling Studies %K Socioeconomic factors %K Surveys and Questionnaires %K United States %K White People %X

This study used mixed-effects modeling of data from a national sample of 6,476 US adults born before 1924, who were tested 5 times between 1993 and 2002 on word recall, serial 7's, and other mental status items to determine demographic and socioeconomic predictors of trajectories of cognitive function in older Americans. Mean decline with aging in total cognition score (range, 0-35; standard deviation, 6.00) was 4.1 (0.68 standard deviations) per decade (95% confidence interval: 3.8, 4.4) and in recall score (range, 0-20; standard deviation, 3.84) was 2.3 (0.60 standard deviations) per decade (95% confidence interval: 2.1, 2.5). Older cohorts (compared with younger cohorts), women (compared with men), widows/widowers, and those never married (both compared with married individuals) declined faster, and non-Hispanic blacks (compared with non-Hispanic whites) and those in the bottom income quintile (compared with the top quintile) declined slower. Race and income differences in rates of decline were not sufficient to offset larger differences in baseline cognition scores. Educational level was not associated with rate of decline in cognition scores. The authors concluded that ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cognitive function in older Americans arise primarily from differences in peak cognitive performance achieved earlier in the life course and less from declines in later life.

%B Am J Epidemiol %I 170 %V 170 %P 331-42 %8 2009 Aug 01 %G eng %N 3 %L newpubs20090908_Karlamangla.pdf %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19605514?dopt=Abstract %2 PMC2727175 %4 Cognition/health outcomes/Socioeconomic Factors %$ 20810 %R 10.1093/aje/kwp154 %0 Journal Article %J J Epidemiol Community Health %D 2008 %T Does childhood schooling affect old age memory or mental status? Using state schooling laws as natural experiments. %A M. Maria Glymour %A Ichiro Kawachi %A Jencks, Christopher %A Lisa F Berkman %K Aged %K Aging %K Censuses %K Child %K Cognition %K Education %K Educational Status %K Female %K Health Status %K Humans %K Least-Squares Analysis %K Male %K Massachusetts %K Memory %K Schools %K Socioeconomic factors %X

BACKGROUND: The association between schooling and old age cognitive outcomes such as memory disorders is well documented but, because of the threat of reverse causation, controversy persists over whether education affects old age cognition. Changes in state compulsory schooling laws (CSL) are treated as natural experiments (instruments) for estimating the effect of education on memory and mental status among the elderly. Changes in CSL predict changes in average years of schooling completed by children who are affected by the new laws. These educational differences are presumably independent of innate individual characteristics such as IQ.

METHODS: CSL-induced changes in education were used to obtain instrumental variable (IV) estimates of education's effect on memory (n = 10,694) and mental status (n = 9751) for white, non-Hispanic US-born Health and Retirement Survey participants born between 1900 and 1947 who did not attend college.

RESULTS: After adjustment for sex, birth year, state of birth and state characteristics, IV estimates of education's effect on memory were large and statistically significant. IV estimates for mental status had very wide confidence intervals, so it was not possible to draw meaningful conclusions about the effect of education on this outcome.

CONCLUSIONS: Increases in mandatory schooling lead to improvements in performance on memory tests many decades after school completion. These analyses condition on individual states, so differences in memory outcomes associated with CSL changes cannot be attributed to differences between states. Although unmeasured state characteristics that changed contemporaneously with CSL might account for these results, unobserved genetic variation is unlikely to do so.

%B J Epidemiol Community Health %V 62 %P 532-7 %8 2008 Jun %G eng %N 6 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18477752?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1136/jech.2006.059469 %0 Journal Article %J J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci %D 2007 %T Baseline health, socioeconomic status, and 10-year mortality among older middle-aged Americans: findings from the Health and Retirement Study, 1992 2002. %A Joseph Feinglass %A Lin, Suru %A Jason A. Thompson %A Joseph J Sudano %A Dorothy D Dunlop %A Song, Jing %A David W. Baker %K Adult %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Economics %K Education %K Follow-Up Studies %K Health Status %K Humans %K Income %K Middle Aged %K Mortality %K Motor Activity %K Pilot Projects %K Proportional Hazards Models %K Retirement %K Risk Factors %K Risk-Taking %K Smoking %K Social Class %K Thinness %K United States %X

OBJECTIVE: This study analyzed whether socioeconomic status in older middle age continues to be associated with 10-year survival after data are controlled for baseline health status.

METHODS: We confirmed deaths through 2002 for 9,759 participants in the Health and Retirement Study, aged 51 to 61 in 1992. We used discrete time survival models to examine hazard ratios over 10 years of follow-up. We examined associations of demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status measures before and after adjustment by health status and behavioral risk factors.

RESULT: The 10-year mortality rate was 10.9%, ranging from 4.7% for respondents reporting excellent health to 35.8% for those reporting poor health at baseline. Lower levels of education, income, and wealth were strongly associated with higher mortality risk after we controlled for just demographic characteristics. After further adjustment for health status and behavioral risk factors, only household income remained significant.

DISCUSSION: Baseline health by age 50 is an important pathway in the association between midlife socioeconomic status and mortality risk to age 70. The continuing effect of low household income on mortality risk was concentrated among respondents reporting excellent to good health at baseline. Socioeconomic disparities in middle-age health continue to limit disability-free life expectancy at older ages.

%B J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci %I 62 %V 62 %P S209-17 %8 2007 Jul %G eng %N 4 %L newpubs20071002_JoGS209.pdf %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17673534?dopt=Abstract %4 socioeconomic status/health status/Mortality %$ 17980 %R 10.1093/geronb/62.4.s209 %0 Book Section %B Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? %D 2007 %T Saving Between Cohorts: The Role of Planning %A Annamaria Lusardi %A Beeler, Jason %E Brigitte C. Madrian %E Olivia S. Mitchell %E Beth J Soldo %K adequacy %K Baby Boomer %K Education %K Housing %K Income %K minorities %K Retirement Planning %K Saving %X We compare the saving behavior of two cohorts: the Early Baby Boomers (EBB, age 51- 56 in 2004) and the HRS cohort (age 51-56 in 1992). We find that EBB have accumulated more wealth than the previous cohort but they benefited from a large increase in house prices, which lifted the wealth of many home-owners. In fact, there are many families among EBB, particularly those headed by respondents with low education, low income, and minorities, which have less wealth than the previous cohort. Lack of wealth can be traced to lack of retirement planning. Notwithstanding the many initiatives aimed at fostering planning in the 1990s, a large portion of EBB still do not plan for retirement even though most respondents are close to it. The effect of planning is remarkably similar between the two cohorts; those who do not plan accumulate much lower amounts of wealth from 20 to 45 percent depending on the location in the wealth distribution- than those who do plan. Thus, for both the EBB and the HRS cohort, lack of planning is tantamount to lack of saving irrespective of the many changes in the economy between 1992 and 2004. %B Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare? %I Oxford University Press %C New York, NY %G eng %U https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230778.001.0001/acprof-9780199230778-chapter-13 %L wp_2006/MRRCwp122.pdf %4 COHORT/Wealth Accumulation %$ 16680 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of General Internal Medicine %D 2005 %T Differences in leisure-time, household, and work-related physical activity by race, ethnicity, and education %A Xiaoxing He %A David W. Baker %K Education %K Leisure activities %K Mortality %K Older Adults %K Physical activity %K Racial/ethnic differences %X Background: Racial and ethnic minority groups have lower levels of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) than whites, but it is unclear how much of this is explained by differences in socioeconomic status and health. Objective: To examine differences in LTPA, work-related physical activity (WRPA; heavy household chores and strenuous job activities), and total physical activity (TPA) by race, ethnicity, and education. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cross-sectional analyses of data from the 1992 Health and Retirement Study for a nationally representative cohort of 9,621 community-dwelling adults aged 51–61 years. Measurements: Physical activity scores for LTPA, WRPA, and TPA based upon self-reported frequency of light or vigorous recreational activities, heavy household chores, and strenuous job-related physical activities. Main Results: LTPA was lower for blacks and Hispanics compared to whites, and LTPA steadily declined with lower levels of education. WRPA showed the reverse pattern, being lowest for whites and persons with greater education. Education was far more important than race/ethnicity as a determinant of LTPA and WRPA in multivariate analyses. After adjusting for differences in overall health and physical functioning, mean TPA scores were similar across racial/ethnic and education categories; blacks (β=1.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.5 to 1.5) and Spanish-speaking Hispanics (β=1.1; 95% CI, 0.3 to 1.9) had slightly higher levels of TPA than whites (P<.01 and P=.01, respectively). Conclusions: Differences in educational attainment and health status accounted for virtually all of the racial and ethnic differences in LTPA. After accounting for WRPA, TPA was similar across race, ethnicity, and education subgroups. %B Journal of General Internal Medicine %V 20 %P 259 - 266 %8 Jan-03-2005 %G eng %U http://link.springer.com/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.40198.xhttp://www.springerlink.com/index/pdf/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.40198.x %N 3 %! J Gen Intern Med %R 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.40198.x %0 Journal Article %J J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci %D 2005 %T The impact of childhood and adult SES on physical, mental, and cognitive well-being in later life. %A Ye Luo %A Linda J. Waite %K Aged %K Aging %K Black People %K Child %K Cognition %K Cohort Studies %K Data collection %K Education %K ethnicity %K Female %K Health Status %K Hispanic or Latino %K Humans %K Income %K Male %K Mental Health %K Middle Aged %K Quality of Life %K Retirement %K Sex Factors %K Social Class %K White People %X

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationships between socioeconomic status (SES) and health across the life course and their variations by gender and race/ethnicity.

METHODS: The sample included 19,949 respondents aged 50 or over from the 1998 Health and Retirement Study.

RESULTS: Lower childhood SES was associated with worse health outcomes in later life. Part of the effect of childhood SES on adult health occurred through childhood health. The impact of childhood SES on education and income in adulthood explained an even larger share of this effect. We also found a stronger effect of adult SES for those with lower childhood SES than for those with more advantaged childhoods. Moreover, childhood SES had a similar impact on health in later life for women and men and for Whites and non-Whites. However, college education seemed more important for women's later health, whereas income seemed more important for men's health. Education appeared to have a weaker effect on adult health for Blacks and Hispanics than for Whites.

DISCUSSION: Both childhood and adult SES are important for health. The negative impact of low childhood SES can be partially ameliorated if people from a low SES position during childhood mobilize to higher status in adulthood.

%B J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci %I 60B %V 60 %P S93-S101 %8 2005 Mar %G eng %N 2 %L pubs_2005_luo_waite.pdf %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15746030?dopt=Abstract %2 PMC2505177 %4 Childhood/Socioeconomic Status/Well Being %$ 14232 %R 10.1093/geronb/60.2.s93 %0 Journal Article %J Industrial Relations %D 2005 %T Imperfect Knowledge of Social Security and Pensions %A Alan L Gustman %A Thomas L. Steinmeier %K Education %K Pensions %K Social Security %X Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, this paper creates variables measuring knowledge about future social security and pension benefits by comparing respondent reports of their expected benefits with benefits calculated from social security earnings records and employer provided descriptions of pension plans. The knowledge measures suggest that misinformation, imprecision and lack of information about retirement benefits is the norm. Those who are most dependent on social security are the least well informed about their social security benefits, while those who are most dependent on pensions are best informed about their pension benefits. Women and minorities are less well informed about both types of retirement benefits. Having documented the extent of misinformation, we turn to questions about the production of information, and the consequences of misinformation for real outcomes. Relating measures of information to planning activities, we find that those who plan are somewhat better informed than those who do not, but with the exception of having requested a social security earnings record, the effects of planning activities on knowledge are modest. In descriptive and reduced form equations for planned and actual retirement and saving, there is at best a modest relation of knowledge measures to planned and actual retirement and to nonpension, nonsocial security wealth as a share of lifetime earnings. Individuals who overestimate their benefits are likely to retire sooner than they planned, but the measured effects are relatively modest. Coefficients of measures of the increase in reward from postponed retirement are barely affected by the addition of measures of respondent knowledge of their retirement benefits to standard reduced form retirement and wealth equations. %B Industrial Relations %I 44 %V 44 %P 373-397 %G eng %N 2 %L pubs_2005_Gust-Stein_Imperfect.pdf %4 Pensions/Social Security/Knowledge %$ 13032 %R https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0019-8676.2005.00389.x %0 Book Section %B Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Economics %D 2004 %T Financial Education and Saving %A Annamaria Lusardi %E Olivia S. Mitchell %E Utkus, S. %K Education %K Net Worth and Assets %K Retirement Planning and Satisfaction %X In this paper, I examine the financial situation of older households. In addition, I examine whether employers' initiatives to reduce planning costs via retirement seminars have an effect on workers' saving. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, I first show that many families arrive close to retirement with little or no wealth. Portfolios are also rather simple, and many families, particularly those with low education, hold little or no high-return assets. I further show that seminars foster saving. This is particularly the case for those with low education and those who save little. By offering financial education, both financial and total net worth increase sharply, particularly for families at the bottom of the wealth distribution and those with low education. Retirement seminars also increase total wealth (inclusive of pension and Social Security) for both high and low education families. Taken together, this evidence suggests that retirement seminars can foster wealth accumulation and bolster financial security in retirement. %B Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Economics %I Oxford University Press %G eng %U https://www.dartmouth.edu/~alusardi/Papers/Financial_Education_2004.pdf %4 Financial Management/Retirement Education/Retirement Planning/Education, Financial %$ 12632 %! Financial Education and Saving %0 Report %D 2003 %T Education Versus Savings as Explanations for Better Health: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study %A Ippolito, Richard A. %K Education %X The paper reports on the results of a study of the health status of 4,917 middle age couples in the HRS. The main finding is that savings propensity appears to be a key component to health outcome. Savers make consumption choices that improve their health, accumulate fewer ailments and enjoy lower mortality rates. The results are consistent with either Becker-Mulligan who posit that education makes individuals more forward looking, or Fuchs who hypothesizes that individuals with lower rates of time preference select themselves into higher levels of education. While education as such matters less after inclusion of savings and other variables, it still affects choices about consumption that affects health, though its effect is not explained by better information. It also affects the rate of ill health, holding constant consumption decisions and existing maladies. If the family's investment behavior importantly influences health outcome, then longer long-term improvements in overall health may depend less on improved flows of health information, and more on a gradual spread of a longer-term outlook among larger portions of the population. Whether far-sighted behavior is learned in the family or through the education process is an important and open question. %I Employee Benefits, Compensation and Pension Law %G eng %U http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.taf?abstract_id=377862 %L wp_2003/Ippolito_REmployee1.pdf %4 Education--Health %$ 10082 %0 Report %D 2003 %T The Impact of Financial Education on Savings and Asset Allocation %A Annamaria Lusardi %K Education %K Net Worth and Assets %X In this paper, I examine the financial situation of older households. In addition, I examine whether employers initiatives to reduce planning costs via retirement seminars have an effect on workers saving. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, I first show that many families arrive close to retirement with little or no wealth. Portfolios are also rather simple, and many families, particularly those with low education, hold little or no high-return assets. I further show that seminars foster saving. This is particularly the case for those with low education and those who save little. By offering financial education, both financial and total net worth increase sharply, particularly for families at the bottom of the wealth distribution and those with low education. Retirement seminars also increase total wealth (inclusive of pension and Social Security) for both high and low education families. Taken together, this evidence suggests that retirement seminars can foster wealth accumulation and bolster financial security in retirement. %I Michigan Retirement Research Center, Michigan Retirement Research Center %G eng %U http://www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu/content.cfm?section=researchandcontent=research_detailandpid=UM03-06 %L wp_2003/Lusardi_wp061.pdf %4 Asset allocation/Education, Financial %$ 12122 %0 Report %D 2003 %T What You Don't Know Can't Help You: Knowledge and Retirement Decision Making %A Sewin Chan %A Ann H. Stevens %K Education %K Pensions %K Retirement Planning and Satisfaction %X This paper examines the relationship between pension incentives, individuals knowledge about those incentives, and the retirement decision. Combining detailed self- and employer-reported data on private pensions, we construct measures of the accuracy of individuals self-reports of their pensions. We show that the minority of well-informed individuals display dramatically larger responses to financial incentives than indicated by average estimates. These results suggest that there is substantial heterogeneity in responsiveness to pension incentives across the population. Finally, we estimate a joint model of information acquisition and retirement decision-making. These results confirm the substantial differences in behavior between informed and uninformed segments of the population. %I Cambridge, Mass., National Bureau of Economic Research %G eng %U http://papers.nber.org/papers/w10185.pdf %L wp_2003/NBERwp10185.pdf %4 Pension/Knowledge/Retirement %$ 10512 %0 Report %D 2002 %T Education versus savings as explanations for better health: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Survey %A Ippolito, Richard A. %K Education %K health %K Savings %X The paper reports on the results of a study of the health status of 4,917 middle age couples in the HRS. The main finding is that savings propensity appears to be a key component to health outcome. Savers make consumption choices that improve their health, accumulate fewer ailments and enjoy lower mortality rates. The results are consistent with either Becker-Mulligan who posit that education makes individuals more forward looking; or Fuchs who hypothesizes that individuals with lower rates of time preference select themselves into higher levels of education. While education as such matters less after inclusion of savings and other variables, it still affects choices about consumption that affects health, though its effect is not explained by better information. It also affects the rate of ill health, holding constant consumption decisions and existing maladies. If the family’s investment behavior importantly influences health outcome, then longer long-term improvements in overall health may depend less on improved flows of health information, and more on a gradual spread of a longer-term outlook among larger portions of the population. Whether far-sighted behavior is learned in the family or through the education process is an important and open question. %B School of Law: Law and Economics Working Paper Series %I George Mason University %C Fairfax, VA %G eng %U https://www.law.gmu.edu/assets/files/publications/working_papers/03-04.pdf %0 Thesis %D 2002 %T Essays on the Economics of Aging and Education %A Todd E. Elder %K Education %K Employment and Labor Force %K Healthcare %X This dissertation examines several key questions concerning school choice and the retirement and employment behavior of older workers while paying special attention to the potential biases resulting from unobserved heterogeneity. This first essay investigates the phenomenon of involuntary job loss among workers over the age of 50 by providing estimates of a dynamic job search model applied to a sample of displaced workers in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). The estimated models imply that reservation wages are low in comparison to the distribution of observed wages, particularly for full-time jobs. Simulations indicate that both market opportunities and age-related preferences for leisure are responsible for the observed unemployment durations. In the second essay I use data from the HRS to study the effects of employer-provided retiree health insurance (EPRHI) on retirement behavior. I find that EPRHI increases transitions out of employment for those nearing age 65. Similarly, access to EPRHI encourages subsequent retirement for those who have experienced an involuntary job loss. These findings are robust to controls for worker heterogeneity, job characteristics such as workplace flexibility, and changes in assets, pension availability, and earnings opportunities. Failing to control for heterogeneity and job characteristics overstates the impact of EPRHI on labor force transitions. In the third essay I examine the validity of three instrumental variables intended to overcome problems due to unobserved heterogeneity in estimating the effects of Catholic schools on a wide variety of outcomes. Three separate methodologies suggest that religious affiliation, proximity to Catholic schools, and the interaction between these two measures are not useful sources of identification of the Catholic school effect, at least in currently available data. In particular, the potential biases in 2SLS estimates are substantial. The discrepancy between these results and previous estimates of Catholic schooling effects stem in part from functional form assumptions that appear to be playing a larger role in identification than the exclusion restrictions. %I Northwestern University %8 2002 %G eng %U Database ID: DAI-A 63/04, p. 1479, Oct 2002. %4 Education, Adult and Continuing (0516) %$ 5004 %+ ISBN 0-493-65005-9 %! Essays on the Economics of Aging and Education %0 Journal Article %J The Gerontologist %D 2002 %T Workers' Ignorance of Retirement Benefits %A David J Ekerdt %A Kyle J Hackney %K Demographics %K Education %K Medicare/Medicaid/Health Insurance %K Methodology %K Other %K Pensions %K Social Security %X PURPOSE: This study considered the extent of workers' unfamiliarity with retirement benefits, a problem that could compromise informed retirement planning. DESIGN AND METHODS: Among workers in the 1992 Health and Retirement Study, we examined the frequency of don't know responses to question series about employer pensions, health insurance, and Social Security. RESULTS: Eligible workers readily offered responses about the shared, public details of pension plans, but knowledge about personal pension wealth was lacking for one third of persons in defined benefit plans and for one fifth of those in defined contribution plans. Among household financial respondents, 14 did not know about health insurance continuation after retirement, and 52 could not offer an expected Social Security amount. Such nonresponse was patterned by proximity to retirement and by social and occupational factors. IMPLICATIONS: More than a problem of missing data, these findings argue for a theoretical reconsideration of the role of financial knowledge in retirement behavior. Ignorance of benefits is probably less a problem of disclosure than of workers' inattention to available information. %B The Gerontologist %I 42 %V 42 %P 543-51 %G eng %N 4 %4 Female/Human/Insurance, Health/Knowledge/Middle Age/Pensions/Social Security/Support, U.S. Government--PHS/United States %$ 4450 %R 10.1093/geront/42.4.543 %0 Thesis %D 2001 %T Two Essays Related to Labor Market Behavior: Demand for publicly provided job training programs in Illinois and Poor health, asset accumulation, and early retirement behavior %A Miah, Mohammad Solaiman %K Education %K Employment and Labor Force %K Health Conditions and Status %K Income %K Net Worth and Assets %K Other %K Retirement Planning and Satisfaction %X Essay 1. This essay examines the determinants of the demand for public job training programs in Illinois. My first objective is to determine which personal characteristics influence support for an increase in spending on publicly provided job training programs for the unemployed across various income groups in Illinois. In particular, I empirically test for a u- shaped relationship between income and the demand for publicly-provided job training. My second objective is to examine the role of local economic conditions in determining the demand for job training programs. I use data from the 1995 Illinois policy survey supplemented with county- and regional-level data (including the unemployment rate, manufacturing employment, population density, and poverty rate). I do not find a u-shaped relationship between income and the demand for job training. However, I find that regional economic conditions, particularly the unemployment rate, the poverty rate, and population density, significantly influence the demand for job training programs in Illinois. In contrast, I find county-level economic conditions are not very influential. Essay 2. The purpose of this essay is to examine the impact of chronic health conditions on asset accumulation and retirement. Compared to a healthy worker, a person with a chronic health condition throughout his or her working life may have had reduced labor force participation and may have built a smaller portfolio of assets. Because this individual will have lower asset income than a healthy person, he or she will be less likely to retire, other things equal. Thus, chronic poor health may lead to opposing effects on the labor supply of the elderly. In my empirical analysis, I use data on adults aged 51-61 from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to study asset accumulation and retirement behavior of the chronically ill. I find that for 90% of individuals with chronic health problems, asset accumulation is sufficiently reduced to delay retirement. The needs of this group have not been addressed by researchers or policy makers discussing critical issues surrounding poor health and retirement. %I Northern Illinois University %8 2001 %G eng %4 Education, Vocational (0747) %$ 5016 %+ 0-493-23496-9 %0 Journal Article %J Economics of Education Review %D 1998 %T Education's Role in Explaining Diabetic Health Investment Differentials %A Kahn, Matthew E. %K Education %K Health Conditions and Status %X This paper studies the relationship between education and diabetic health investment. It examines how education affects diabetic health investment proxies such as smoking propensity, BMI, blood sugar control, and diet. Results indicate that increased education raises diabetic health investments. However, this increase in health investments is less for diabetics than for non-diabetics. %B Economics of Education Review %I 17 %V 17 %P 257-266 %G eng %N 3 %L pubs_1998_Kahn_MEconEduc.pdf %4 Diabetic Status/Health Status/Health Behaviors/Education--Health %$ 8256 %R 10.1016/S0272-7757(97)00033-2 %0 Journal Article %J J Health Care Poor Underserved %D 1996 %T Physical activity and smoking: gender comparisons among older African American adults. %A Lockery, Shirley A. %A Stanford, E. Percil %K Age Factors %K Black or African American %K Education %K Exercise %K Female %K Humans %K Income %K Male %K Marital Status %K Middle Aged %K Risk Factors %K Sampling Studies %K Sex Factors %K Smoking %K Smoking cessation %X

Little effort has been expended on the examination of systematic health risk behaviors among adult African Americans by gender. Using data from the national Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this article compares differences between male and female physical activity and smoking behaviors of African Americans aged 50 to 61. The analysis highlights a clear pattern of socioeconomic differences with current male smokers, who are more likely to be unmarried and in the lower income and educational levels. Among women, the relationship between smoking patterns, income, and education is less definitive and consistent. Our findings, confirmed by earlier studies, indicate that the largest percentage of the study population, both male and female, are not engaged in any form of regular physical exercise. Thus human service providers must be more attentive to gender and sociodemographic differences in smoking habits and patterns of physical activities to tailor policies and programs accordingly.

%B J Health Care Poor Underserved %I 7 %V 7 %P 232-51 %8 1996 Aug %G eng %N 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8768467?dopt=Abstract %4 Smoking/Sex Differences/Health Behavior/Middle Aged Adults/Exercise/African-Americans %$ 1282 %R 10.1353/hpu.2010.0617 %0 Journal Article %J Social Science & Medicine (1983) %D 0 %T State-level desegregation in the U.S. South and mid-life cognitive function among Black and White adults. %A Walsemann, Katrina M %A Hair, Nicole L %A Farina, Mateo P %A Tyagi, Pallavi %A Jackson, Heide %A Jennifer A Ailshire %K Education %K historical data %K life course %K school segregation %X

RATIONALE: Black adults experience worse cognitive function than their White peers. Although educational attainment is an important predictor of cognitive function, other aspects of education, including school desegregation, may also shape this relationship. For Black adults who grew up in the U.S. South in the 1950s-1970s, exposure to school desegregation may have altered life course pathways critical for later cognitive function.

OBJECTIVE: We determined if state variation in exposure to school desegregation in the U.S. South was associated with cognitive function at mid-life, if the association varied by race, and if the association remained after adjustment for state-level education quality and respondents' educational attainment.

METHODS: We linked historical data on state-level school desegregation to the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 50 and older. We restricted our sample to Black (n = 1443) and White (n = 1507) adults born between 1948 and 1963 who resided in the U.S. South during primary school. We assessed three cognition outcomes: total cognitive function, episodic memory, and mental status. We estimated race-stratified linear regression models with cluster adjustment and a final model using state fixed effects.

RESULTS: Greater exposure to desegregated primary schooling was associated with higher cognitive function and episodic memory among Black but not White adults. Among Black adults, the association between school desegregation and cognitive function and episodic memory remained after adjustment for state-level education quality and educational attainment.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that state-level school desegregation efforts played a consequential role in shaping the cognitive function of Black adults who grew up in the U.S. South.

%B Social Science & Medicine (1983) %V 338 %P 116319 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116319