Full Citation
Title: Educational Attainment and Cancer Mortality, 1960-2000: Patterns, Trends and Pathways
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2004
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: A substantial body of empirical research evidence supports the existence of a causal link between educational attainment and health but little is known about the relationship between education and cancer. Further, the causal pathways through which education affects health and longevity are incompletely understood. This study described the association between educational attainment and cancer mortality in the United States between 1960 and 2000 and explored explanations for the patterns observed. The empirical analysis used census and national mortality data and multivariable regression techniques to obtain estimates of the effect of education on mortality due to all-cause, lung, colon, breast and prostate cancer. Time trends in those relationships were examined. A conceptual framework that integrates existing theoretical insights based on human capital theory and that views education's influence on health as shaped by a social and historical context guided the analysis. Education effects varied by gender, cancer site, and over time and were often nonlinear. Based on theory and existing research evidence, it was hypothesized that time trends in education effects would be negative and that education effects on cancer mortality in 2000 would be negative and graded. However, time trends in education effects, although generally negative between 1960 and 1970, were characterized by a variety of patterns and changes in direction in subsequent years. Further, there was no evidence of a gradient in education effects on cancer mortality. Trends in the correlation between education and proximate determinants of cancer or cancer outcomes (for example, health behaviors and utilization of early detection services) may explain some of the patterns observed but the mechanisms that produced others remain unclear. These results suggest that education effects on cancer do not parallel those found for all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality and for other measures of health and functioning such as self-rated health. In addition, they demonstrate that education effects on cancer mortality have varied greatly over time and in unexpected ways. Further refinement of theoretical pathways linking societal context, educational attainment, and cancer will be important to further research progress in this area.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Tarlov, Elizabeth
Institution: University of Illinois at Chicago
Department: Health Sciences Center
Advisor: Richard B. Warnecke
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
Publisher Location: Chicago, IL
Pages:
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Education, Fertility and Mortality, Other
Countries: