Inequality of Health
[T]he gap between the health of those who have college degrees and those who don’t has been growing dramatically. In particular, in recent years it has become apparent that those with college degrees tend to live a long time and then have only a short period of bad health in the period right before death — a pattern significantly less common for those without college degrees. Here is one of his academic papers backing up that claim.
Miles Kimball (Supply-Side Liberal).
Education is a measurable quality of life indicator. Makes sense that it would effect health.
Higher education is a life saver.
Interesting play between education and income.
“Education plays a greater role relative to income in the onset of functional limitations, whereas income has much stronger effects on their progression or course.”
It seems that education comes with an environment of preventing disease, while income allows people to treat the disease.
And another reason why it pays off to be a college graduate!
I agree that attending college is a quality of life indicator. But could there be alternate reasons(I perused the study, couldve missed something)?
It makes sense…
A college degree, more often than not, opens doors for you in the professional world. Not just because as you go to school you get to meet people and network, and these “connections” usually help you land a job (missed opportunity by those not enrolled in a higher-education program)…but also because nowadays a degree alone does set you apart from a good number of people that either can’t afford to put themselves through school, or simply don’t want to. Not saying a degree means a whole lot these days, but it certainly helps.
Without a college degree you will probably be more prone to stress due to struggles trying to find a job or have a steady income, which in return will cause you to live an unhealthy, shaky and unstable lifestyle… That said, most college graduates won’t experience situations of this nature (as long as they become valuable and admired professionals, of course)
P.S. Of course all this can be pretty subjective to some degree…props to those who have proved that it can be possible to be successful in the professional world without a college degree, if you are driven and committed and are willing to work twice as hard.
Very nice! If only more people would come across studies like this to find more incentives to go to school. Education can never hurt.
I think people are looking at it the wrong way. It isn’t money, it isn’t lack of stress, if you think wealthy people can have less stress you’re crazy. It isn’t the ability to pay for healthcare either since so many fields that do not require degrees do provide very good health coverage because the workforce is unionized. That is all a cum hoc fallacy.
I think it simply more likely is going to come down to personality. Ambitious people who work hard and want to better themselves tend to not just be ambitious about one part of their life or work hard in just one area of their life or just want to better themselves in one way.
Like it or not, there are people out there who have basically settled for the life they have. They’re poor, uneducated, and unhealthy, and they don’t really care. I’m sure we all know someone like this. I have people like this in my family. They’re also more likely to smoke and drink, even though both habits are expensive. They don’t have that great of a life, so they don’t care as much to prolong it, but likewise they’re not motivated enough to try to make changes.
I do not think it is a college degree than marks this difference, I think it is just the difference between motivated people and unmotivated people, and motivated people just coincidentally have higher rates of degree holding.
Perhaps the government could see this as a potential approach to increase Americans quality of health? We always hear of the government and other respective entities working through hospitals and major medical institutions to improve the quality of care rendered to individuals…but how about improving the American education system?
If this study is accurate, then by making access to education easier to all individuals, as well as more affordable and more appealing, then we would already see an increase in the quality of life and health of those who get involved. No need to spend large amounts of healthcare dollars to increase healthcare quality, only make education more feasible for all and help individuals live longer!
I agree with Jason.
The government is so centered and influenced by the money that moves the healthcare system in this country that they fail to see the many other options they have to help individuals enjoy a good quality of life. If they are really (really!) concerned about the well-being of Americans, then they could take into consideration other reasonable alternatives to improve their quality of life and offer different ways to perhaps achieve similar results than those so hard to achieve through our current health care system.
People who go to college are on average smarter, healthier and more diligent than those who don’t.
With the way most government workers and politicians treat health news this will likely result in the mandatory owning of the paper a degree is printed on, since it clearly has beneficial health results.
I’m still trying to get my head around what a “supply-side liberal” is.
Is anyone really surprised that, in the aggregate, there’s a statistical correlation between having the personality traits that are associated with completing college (prudence, drive, foresight, impulse control, self discipline, etc) and a set of lifestyle choices, habits which results in increased health and longevity?
This reminds me of a statistical study that showed a correlation between completing an Ironman triathalon and having an income north of $140K on average.
Given the way that many are interpreting the above study, I can’t help but wonder if they’d propose enrolling the poor in triathalon training regimens to lift them out of poverty…