Intercohort Variations in the Education–Health Gradient: Sociohistorical Changes in Early-Life Selection Mechanisms in the United States

Tirth R Bhatta and Anna Zajacova

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2021, vol. 76, issue 2, 330-342

Abstract: ObjectivesMost prior studies on cohort-specific changes in the education gradient relative to health treat the distribution of education within a particular cohort as a “starting place” for understanding later-life health disparities. This premise has obfuscated the role that sociohistorical changes in early-life selection mechanisms play in the widening of education-based inequalities in functional limitations across birth cohorts.MethodsDrawing from the Health and Retirement Survey (1992–2016; n = 20,920), this study employs inverse probability weight (IPW) to account for early-life selection mechanisms that are likely to affect both educational attainment and functional limitations. IPW-adjusted generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to estimate the total effect of education on functional limitations across birth cohorts (born 1924–1959).ResultsA significant linear decline in the negative effects of childhood socioeconomic disadvantage on education (β = 0.005, p

Keywords: Cohort analysis; Functional limitations; Life course (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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