ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2015
Trends and group differences in the association between educational attainment and U.S. adult mortality: implications for understanding education's causal influence.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 120 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
120 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Socioeconomic Inequalities and Molecular Risk for Aging in Young Adulthood.American journal of epidemiology · 2023Pooled it
- Comparison of effectiveness of oral hygiene instruction methods in improving plaque scores among 8-9-year children: a randomized controlled trial.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2022Trial
- Parental education and children's old-age mortality: Evidence using college expansions.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- Public Policies in Historical Context and the Association Between Education and US Older Adults' Health.The Milbank quarterly · 2026Article
- Moderating effects of educational inequality on education polygenic scores, attained education and dementia-risk relationships.SSM - population health · 2026Article
- Diminishing Returns Among Black Patients With Cancer: The Intersection of Race and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2026Article
- Changing educational attainment as a driver of cohort changes in healthy longevity: a decomposition analysis of US birth cohorts.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- A proposed research agenda for the study of educational inequities in diet quality.Public health nutrition · 2026Review
- Changes in the Education-Health Gradient Within U.S. States, 1993-2019.Population research and policy review · 2026Article
- Social determinants of health and life expectancy in US adults.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Interrogating Theories and Mechanisms Underlying Educational Inequities in Diet Quality.The Journal of nutrition · 2025Review
- Observational
- Socioeconomic inequalities in physical function decline: multilevel longitudinal results from the HABITAT study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Life expectancy by county and educational attainment in the USA, 2000-19: an observational analysis.The Lancet. Public health · 2025Observational
- Trends and factors associated with recent HIV testing among women in Haiti: a cross-sectional study using data from nationally representative surveys.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- Socioeconomic Factors and Abortive Outcomes of Clinical Pregnancy After Embryo Transfer in the Setting of Universal Health Insurance Coverage of IVF.Journal of Korean medical science · 2023Article
- Dynamic Changes in the Association Between Education and Health in the United States.The Milbank quarterly · 2023Review
- Mothers' Nonstandard Work Schedules and Children's Behavior Problems: Divergent Patterns by Maternal Education.Research in social stratification and mobility · 2023Article
60 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Has the shape of the association between educational attainment and U.S. adult mortality changed in recent decades? If so, is it changing consistently across demographic groups? What can changes in the shape of the association tell us about the possible mechanisms in play for improving health and lowering mortality risk over the adult life course? This paper develops the argument that societal technological change may have had profound effects on the importance of educational attainment - particularly advanced education - in the U.S. adult population for garnering health advantages and that these changes should be reflected in changes in the functional form of the association between educational attainment and mortality. We review the historical evidence on the changing functional form of the association, drawing on studies based in the United States, to assess whether these changes are consistent with our argument about the role of technological change. We also provide an updated analysis of these functional form patterns and trends, contrasting data from the early 21st Century with data from the late 20th Century. This updated evidence suggests that the shape of the association between educational attainment and U.S. adult mortality appears to be reflecting lower and lower adult mortality for very highly educated Americans compared to their low-educated counterparts in the 21st Century. We draw on this review and updated evidence to reflect on the question whether education's association with adult mortality has become increasingly causal in recent decades, why, and the potential research, policy, and global implications of these changes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.