Life Expectancy and Parental Education

Mathias Huebener

No 12316, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study analyses the relationship between life expectancy and parental education. It extends the previous literature that focused mostly on the relationship between individuals' own education and their life expectancy. Based on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and survival analysis models, we show that maternal education is related to children's life expectancy - even after controlling for children's own level of education. This applies equally to women and men as well as to further life expectancies examined at age 35 to age 65. This pattern is more pronounced for younger cohorts. In most cases, the education of the father is not significantly related to children's life expectancy. The vocational training and the occupational position of the parents in childhood, which both correlate with household income, cannot explain the link. Children's health behaviour and the health accumulated over the life course appear as important channels. The findings imply that the link between education and life expectancy is substantially stronger and that returns to education are higher if intergenerational links are considered.

Keywords: survival analysis; health inequality; mortality; returns to education; parental background; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I14 I26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2019-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur and nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published in: Social Science & Medicine, 2019, Vol. 232, 351-365

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Related works:
Journal Article: Life expectancy and parental education (2019)
Journal Article: Life expectancy and parental education (2019)
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