The Impact of Higher Education on Health Literacy: A Comparative Study between Urban and Rural China

Yanwen Long, Changli Jia, Xiaoxia Luo, Yufeng Sun, Wenjing Zuo (), Yibo Wu (), Yunchou Wu, Ayidana Kaierdebieke and Zhi Lin
Additional contact information
Yanwen Long: Taikang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Changli Jia: School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Xiaoxia Luo: School of Public Health/Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Yufeng Sun: Yangpu Foreign Language School, Danzhou 578001, China
Wenjing Zuo: Taikang Medical School (School of Basic Medical Sciences), Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Yibo Wu: MPharm School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100091, China
Yunchou Wu: Department of Philosophy, Anhui University, Hefei 230039, China
Ayidana Kaierdebieke: School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710061, China
Zhi Lin: College of Communication and Art Design, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: Health China 2030 calls for health equity. The strict household registration system, known as Hukou , results in an uneven distribution of social resources between urban and rural China. Higher education can promote social mobility and narrow health inequality. Health literacy is a significant indicator to predict health status. Drawing on national representative data recently collected, this study examines the impact of higher education on health literacy in urban and rural China. Propensity score matching was used to address potential selection bias. Ordinary least squares regressions and Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition techniques were conducted to explore urban-rural disparities in health benefits from higher education. The findings indicate that there are existing gaps in health literacy, higher education attainment, household income, and healthcare coverage between urban and rural China. Higher education attainment can significantly promote health literacy both in urban and rural China, after controlling for a series of demographic, socio-economic, and individual characteristics. Moreover, this study highlights a negative heterogenous treatment effect pattern: those who are less likely to attend college can obtain more health benefits from higher education than those who are more likely to be admitted into college. Public education and health programs, policies, and goals should be further optimized to promote integrated development in urban and rural China.

Keywords: health literacy; higher education; urban-rural disparity; selection bias; heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12142/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/19/12142/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:19:p:12142-:d:924903

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().