Race, Ethnicity, And The Education Gradient In Health

TLDR

The study documents how education’s relationship with a broad range of health measures differs across race/ethnicity and nativity using pooled 2000–2006 National Health Interview Survey data. The authors analyze pooled 2000–2006 National Health Interview Survey data to assess education-health relationships across racial/ethnic and nativity groups. Education more strongly predicts health behaviors and outcomes for some racial/ethnic groups, with foreign‑born populations showing smaller differentials, and the education-health relationship varies across Hispanic and Asian subgroups, implying that interventions to reduce health disparities must consider these patterns.

Abstract

Using pooled data from the 2000–2006 National Health Interview Survey, we document how the relationship between education and a broad range of health measures varies by race/ethnicity and nativity. We found that education is a more powerful determinant of health behaviors and outcomes for some groups than it is for others. In addition, the education differentials for foreign-born groups are typically more modest than those for corresponding native-born populations. We also show how the education-health relationship varies across Hispanic and Asian subgroups. We argue that any intervention for eliminating health disparities must take these patterns into account.