The Puzzling Impact of Schooling on Health in Later Life: A Comparative Analysis of Common Chronic Illnesses

This study uses the Health and Retirement study to investigate the impact of schooling on the incidence of common chronic illnesses in later life. Respondents aged 51-61 are tracked from 1992 to 1998, and the incidence of disease is recorded at two-year intervals. Schooling is shown to be highly associated with all of the eight diseases studied except cancer, with particularly high correlation for stroke, diabetes, lung disease and psychological disorders. Arthritis and hypertension are also strongly related to schooling, but to a lesser extent. However, after controlling for early-life characteristics, wealth, and post-schooling behaviors (estimated at the 1992 baseline), the schoolinghealth correlation is virtually non-existent for stroke, diabetes, hypertension and psychological disorders and is largely eliminated for lung disease and arthritis. For heart disease, schooling has a positive impact on disease incidence. Although the disease-speci...c di¤erences cannot be fully reconciled here, the analysis suggests that the schooling-health correlation results largely due to the behavioral pathway—the direct and indirect impacts of schooling on healthy behaviors such as smoking and diet—rather than from the direct e¤ects of early-life characteristics or wealth (which have generally small and statistically insigni...cant impact on disease incidence).