Clouston Sean A P, Richards Marcus, Cadar Dorina, Hofer Scott M
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA
University College London, London, UK.
J Health Soc Behav. 2015 Sep;56(3):323-40. doi: 10.1177/0022146515594188.
Education is a fundamental cause of social inequalities in health because it influences the distribution of resources, including money, knowledge, power, prestige, and beneficial social connections, that can be used in situ to influence health. Recent studies have highlighted early-life cognition as commonly indicating the propensity for educational attainment and determining health and age of mortality. Health behaviors provide a plausible mechanism linking both education and cognition to later-life health and mortality. We examine the role of education and cognition in predicting smoking, heavy drinking, and physical inactivity at midlife using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 10,317), National Survey of Health and Development (N = 5,362), and National Childhood Development Study (N = 16,782). Adolescent cognition was associated with education but was inconsistently associated with health behaviors. Education, however, was robustly associated with improved health behaviors after adjusting for cognition. Analyses highlight structural inequalities over individual capabilities when studying health behaviors.
教育是健康方面社会不平等的一个根本原因，因为它影响资源的分配，包括金钱、知识、权力、声望以及有益的社会关系，这些资源可在当地用于影响健康。近期研究强调，早年认知通常表明受教育程度的倾向，并决定健康状况和死亡年龄。健康行为提供了一个合理的机制，将教育和认知与晚年健康及死亡率联系起来。我们利用威斯康星纵向研究（N = 10317）、全国健康与发展调查（N = 5362）以及全国儿童发展研究（N = 16782）的数据，研究教育和认知在预测中年时期吸烟、酗酒和缺乏身体活动方面的作用。青少年认知与教育相关，但与健康行为的关联并不一致。然而，在对认知进行调整后，教育与改善健康行为有着强烈关联。分析突出了在研究健康行为时结构不平等相对于个人能力的情况。
