Fundamental resource dis/advantages, youth health and adult educational outcomes

TitleFundamental resource dis/advantages, youth health and adult educational outcomes
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsElman, C, Wray, LA, Xi, J
JournalSocial Science Research
Volume43
Pagination108-126
KeywordsAdult children, Demographics, Event History/Life Cycle, Health Conditions and Status, Healthcare, Methodology
Abstract

Recent studies find lasting effects of poor youth health on educational attainment but use young samples and narrow life course windows of observation to explore outcomes. We apply a life course framework to three sets of Health and Retirement Study birth cohorts to examine early health status effects on education and skills attainment measured late in life. The older cohorts that we study were the earliest recipients of U.S. policies promoting continuing education through the GI Bill, community college expansions and new credentials such as the GED. We examine a wide range of outcomes but focus on GEDs, postsecondary school entry and adult human capital as job-related training. We find that older U.S. cohorts had considerable exposure to these forms of attainment and that the effects of youth health on them vary by outcome: health selection and ascription group effects are weak or fade, respectively, in outcomes associated with delayed or adult attainment. However, poorer health and social disadvantage in youth and barriers associated with ascription carry forward to limit attainment of key credentials such as diplomas and college degrees. We find that the human capital - health gradient is dynamic and that narrow windows of observation in existing studies miss much of it. National context also matters for studying health-education linkages over the life course.

Notes

Times Cited: 0

URLhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24267756
DOI10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.09.001
Endnote Keywords

Life Course/Health Disparities/Adult Education/Low-Birth-Weight/Childhood Health/Cumulative Disadvantage/Socioeconomic-Status/Gender-Gap

Endnote ID

69354

Citation Key7990