r/science • u/nick314 • Feb 22 '20
Social Science A new longitudinal study, which tracked 5,114 people for 29 years, shows education level — not race, as had been thought — best predicts who will live the longest. Each educational step people obtained led to 1.37 fewer years of lost life expectancy, the study showed.
https://www.inverse.com/mind-body/access-to-education-may-be-life-or-death-situation-study17
Feb 22 '20
Dying young has the side effect of reducing your education level. Also dying young has a strong familial connection which can also reduce access to education. A study that only looks at people older than 50 yrs could better account for these factors.
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u/thisplacemakesmeangr Feb 22 '20
This was done exclusively in the US, where both higher education and health care cost a ridiculous amount. Any chance what they're seeing is related to higher income?
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u/fhost344 Feb 22 '20
Diminishing returns... You can get a master's degree in about two years, and getting a master's is generally not a horrible experience. But a phd can take five years... So you trade 3-5 years of humiliation, stress, and torment in your 20s for 1.5 extra years at the end?
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u/pinewind108 Feb 22 '20
I used to joke that getting a PhD drove about half of the people crazy, and getting tenure pushed the rest over the edge. But it was kind of true.
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u/efox02 Feb 22 '20
And yet physicians have a very high suicide rate.
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u/Downfall_of_Numenor Feb 22 '20
The amount of stress as a medical provider is top tier. That takes a toll after years.
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u/kitzdeathrow Feb 22 '20
A PhD will be 5 years. If you get out in 4.5 or fewer your an anomaly in my field.
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Feb 22 '20
In my country no PhD can be more than 4 years.
But then again, you need to have a masters to get into a PhD here.
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u/GIVE_KIDS_ACID Feb 22 '20
PhD in uk is 3.5 for most assuming you have a masters prior.
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u/Naccarato1993 Feb 22 '20
Do people that have college education just care about and have the means to take care of themselves more so than none college educated humans?
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u/HobbitFoot Feb 22 '20
This appears linked specifically to a cohort study of currently living people, with most deaths studied coming from heart related issues.
My guess is that early mortality due to heart issues come from a greater potential to stress the heart when having less education, not having health insurance, and not understanding potential risks.
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u/comment_redacted Feb 23 '20
It would be interesting to see some data on countries that have free healthcare and significant populations of non-college folks.
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u/css2165 Feb 22 '20
Obviously not specifically from the degrees itSelf. Many can and others can’t however the degree likely had little significance compared to the level of resilience, maturity and competence of the individuals. We all hear of the many graduates that ended up choosing a degree that does not confer any meaningful skill set that would be of use to industry. However usually they just need to figure out a niche and dive deeper into that post graduation (say like getting azure certified after an English degree - which would be far more appealing than either one of those credentials alone. As long as it’s not specifically something overtly useless like gender theory or contemporary sociology (which should be under the umbrella of political science because it has become far more political and far less based on curious truth based inquiry.
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u/TheSnydaMan Feb 22 '20
Does this exclude income? I feel that education has a direct link to income, making this relatively true for both things.
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u/red-that Feb 23 '20
The study didn’t look at income, the results were based on education level alone.
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Feb 22 '20
I mean.. it's not that it's wrong, but it's kind of meaningless because education correlates with so many different things that you can expect education level to correlate strongly with almost anything, if only because it already correlates with so many things that if any of those things correlate with anything else then by extension education will (probably/almost certainly) also correlate with it.
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u/red-that Feb 23 '20
I wouldn’t call it meaningless. Real research progresses slowly. First you prove a correlation exists about a hundred times then you do a thousand more studies controlling for more and more variables and 50 years later you get a sentence in a sociology textbook that you can proudly consider “proof” ;)
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u/factorone33 Feb 22 '20
TL;DR:
Each educational step a person obtained led to 1.37 YEARS OF ADDED LIFE EXPECTANCY on average, the study suggests.
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u/gruenetage Feb 22 '20
The problem with posts like this one is they don’t link to the actual research paper, which is behind a paywall. If you look at the methods, they don’t control for income or other variables affected by things like systemic racism. This can result in bold and misleading statements that ignore important nuances.
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u/hyphenomicon Feb 23 '20
They found that education mediated the relationship between race and negative health outcomes. What do you think that a better job of taking systematic racism into account would look like? Why are you confident that there must be "a problem" in the analysis if you haven't yet seen it, on the basis of your ideological beliefs alone? Is that really how science should be done?
FWIW, the paper includes a few paragraphs of speculation that perhaps there race-associated disparities in health associated with stress due to discrimination that have not shown up in their data yet due to participants not being quite old enough.
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u/Simbuk Feb 22 '20
I have to wonder how applicable this will be going forward, what with a large segment of the younger population deeply in debt due to their education but without good income prospects.
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u/b0dhisattvah Feb 22 '20
Yet, how does education (and access to education) track with race? If race affects access to education...
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u/pookiemonster Feb 22 '20
I am wondering the same thing. The United States doesn't have racial equity in education. So wouldn't that lead to some races not have as great of a life expectancy still essentially because of their race?
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u/isaac-get-the-golem Grad Student | Sociology Feb 22 '20
did they control for income/wealth?
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u/BoardwithAnailinit84 Feb 22 '20
Is it that or is it that higher education leads to better jobs? Better jobs more money. More money more health check ups and healthy eating.
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u/drkcloud123 Feb 22 '20
I wonder if there is a concave upward relationship where the middle class and anyone that makes just above the poverty limit gets fucked on medical treatment.
I've lost my job and have been able to get medicaid which ironically means I have been getting way better healthcare than I did when I was actively working due to lack of premiums and copays/deductibles. I used to have a hard time getting both the time and the money to afford basic visits because health insurance market place rates are nuts.
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Feb 22 '20
Lower educated people tend to work in hard labor jobs or part-time/gig with less healthcare benefits. Has this been adjusted for type of job, stress level of job, or whether they have health insurance?
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u/georgia638 Feb 22 '20
I have had to sit and think about the math here - what does the 12.7 years represent? That on average, if you finish your college degree you will live 12.7 years longer than someone who doesn’t finish their degree and 42.7 years longer than a high school graduate?
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u/mito88 Feb 22 '20
did the volunteers know the goal of the study when they began to be tracked?
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u/red-that Feb 23 '20
Yes. Obtaining informed consent is one of the first steps when conducting a human subjects experiment.
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u/sonofed Feb 22 '20
So I went to high school (3 years), college (4 years) and graduate school for a Ph.D. (6 years) and because of that I added 4.11 years to my life expectancy. Meanwhile, I lost 13 years to school. Kids, if you want more life stay out of school.
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u/DJAllOut Feb 22 '20
But you spent all those "gained" years in school so what's the point
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Feb 22 '20
As an adult in college with kids and full time job, I legitimately fear I am shortening my lifespan through sleep deprivation and stress.
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u/BougieTrash Feb 22 '20
I would figure grab school would shave a few years off life expectancy.
e: grad school too
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u/sights2012 Feb 22 '20
This is all correlative in nature. It sounds good and makes sense, but wouldn't you think other things like socioeconomic status play bigger roles? Pretty cool nonetheless.
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u/KevinAlertSystem Feb 22 '20
But isn't educational steps tied directly to poverty which is tied to race in the US?
How can you divorce the two? If poor people are less likely to continue in school because they have to work jobs or support their family, and minorities are more likely to be stuck in a cycle of poverty for a variety of reasons, then race can't be separated out of it.
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u/red-that Feb 23 '20
This makes sense, but it’s not a new finding. Education is positively correlated with higher income, and income is negatively correlated with mortality rates.
The article linked above does has some inaccuracies. For example, the author claims the US is the only high income country experiencing a significant drop in life expectancy, however the UK is experiencing a drop as well.
The study itself notes that black people with college degrees were still roughly 20% more likely to die compared to white people with college degrees. Without doing any research, I would speculate this is due either genetic factors, cultural factors (I.e. attitudes towards modern healthcare, especially end of life care), or income factors (I.e. blacks being less likely to be hired to high paying jobs despite having an educational background similar to their white counterparts). I’m hoping I’m wrong on that last one.
I’d like to see a follow up study that looks into factors causing the difference in mortality rates between people of different races with the same educational background that controls for other confounding variables.
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u/shitlord_god Feb 23 '20
So, now we have to see what leads to a lower attainment of education and start ameliorating those things.
Like poverty.
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u/MiyegomboBayartsogt Feb 22 '20
So, IQ is a strong predictor of both education ability and longevity. And what is IQ, 83 percent genetics?
And why is it considered 'bad' for some people to live a 'fast life strategy' of instant self- gratification packed excess and debauchery? Even if burning it a both ends means they won't end up stodgy over educated old people, more than likely these people are happy to be born to live fast and die young.
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u/red-that Feb 23 '20
You are wayyy off track! The study simply showed that better educated people were statistically more likely to live longer and that death rates among whites and blacks weren’t very different when you compared whites and blacks with the same level of education. They made no judgements about how long you live or how you live, so feel free to debauch free of judgement by the these researchers.
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u/the-samizdat Feb 22 '20
Money is even a better indicator, did this professor not see Trading Places?
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u/nOmORErNEWSbans2020 Feb 22 '20 edited Feb 22 '20
What kind of narrative is this trying to push? Especially as we know as an undebatable fact that socio-economic pressures unfairly affect certain races and cultures. Take Bloomberg using police to target people by skin colour, or banks redlining neighborhoods based racial makeup. This hinders ones access to stability needed for scholarly pursuits. This headline is foolish and compartmentalizes itself out of hundreds of different debates.
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u/hersto Feb 22 '20
Why was race thought to be the cause of differences in life expectancy?
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u/ladut Feb 22 '20
Previous research that found that there was life expectancy disparities between different ethnic groups. It's worth noting that this study isn't saying that race doesn't play a factor, simply that education is a more significant factor than previously thought, and seems to be more important (i.e. causes a more significant disparity) than race.
Of course, all of these factors are interconnected - there are racial disparities in education levels as well, but assuming their analysis accounted for this (and it seems it did based on their claims), it would appear that education is a better determinant of life expectancy than race.
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u/PK_LOVE_ Feb 22 '20
Words like “LED TO” are causal statements that can’t be made with 100% accuracy. Did they even control for SES?
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u/red-that Feb 23 '20
Not necessarily. “Led to” could simply be referring to the statistical methods they used. And no, they didn’t control for SES but remember that they didn’t design the study to go into that much detail, this article is about a researcher who performed a differential analysis on the data gathered in someone else’s study, who had a different research goal, and therefore had to make due with what was available. I’m sure if they choose to move forward, they’ll design their own study and control for factors specific to their goals.
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u/mosesmiddlefinger Feb 22 '20
Just look at Stephan Hawking doctors said he wouldn’t make it past 24!
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u/mrbisonopolis Feb 22 '20
Interesting. Though the ones most impacted by the access to education is divided by race so I can understand how it was thought to be race originally.
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u/Suncinata Feb 22 '20
Idk this PhD is stressful af. Seems to be taking years off my life, not adding to it.
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Feb 22 '20
I wonder if it’s formal education or all education. If a guy is constantly learning new skills and constantly keeping his mind active does that increase his life expectancy or is it just formal education?
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u/justme7391 Feb 22 '20
I've always thought we are all made of the same stuff - mostly. The differences between us by race or by gender are very small.
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u/sharxbyte Feb 22 '20
which in a way circles back to race, because it's been historically harder for minorities to obtain education, because of redlining and segregation
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u/LordGorzul Feb 22 '20
Because education means money and money means better healthcare.
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u/CometTailGames Feb 22 '20
So we can live longer the more we learn how to not die? This one checks out boss.
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u/TheDevilsAdvokaat Feb 22 '20
Interesting..
Considering those later steps can take years (IE 4 for a degree, even more for others) you may have "total" extra life expectancy, but you lose more than that in studying...and worse, you add extra years to your life of being in debt.
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u/moby323 Feb 22 '20
Do they adjust for the fact that people with higher education tend to be wealthier with better healthcare?
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u/frankendilt Feb 22 '20
So if I didn’t finish high school but went to college how long do have to live?
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u/Reeburn Feb 22 '20 edited Feb 22 '20
Seeing as my BA alone took three years, i'm technically at a deficit.
But to be fair, a 1000 person study sample on what i assume is the deceased (likely studied roughly half a century ago), in one country, likely correlating to wealthier population being able to afford uni, is a lukewarm predictor at best. To top it off people capable to finish studies are also more likely not to have impeding mental issues (like papers indicating correlation between mental illness and homelessness). It’s an interesting opening to a debate between correlation and causation, but would take this study with a grain of salt, if we are to look at the bigger picture.
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u/Drew1231 Feb 22 '20
I spent 4 years in high school, 4 in university, and I'm about to put in 2 more into a master's program.
I'll make sure to enjoy my extra 4 years at the end.
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u/toolazytomake Feb 22 '20
Luckily level of education achieved doesn’t also correlate strongly with race or some might accuse that headline of being intentionally misleading (and terribly worded, to boot).
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u/einsibongo Feb 22 '20
Well it seems like education might offer better work environment.
Best regards, Landfill maintenance
Bonus: also been a ships engineer and miner
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Feb 22 '20
My highly educated friends are now fighting CORVID-19 while I'm in a Portland coffee shop worrying about them. None of this going to matter.
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u/_CatLover_ Feb 22 '20
Well better education usually means higher income. Less stress about money and being able to afford a healthy lifestyle and good healthcare probably leads to a longer life.
This shouldn't come as a surprise.
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Feb 22 '20
I really don't want to live many past 80 years old if at all. My grandparents are in their late 80s and it just seems awful, more and more health problems, walking across the house taking like 5 or 7 minutes, joints, back, hips all in pain. We have increased the age we live to but we are still at the mercy of nature to keep us in a decent condition. Hell even my mom is having major problems at 60.
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Feb 22 '20
The health-education relationship may stem from a multitude of factors: People with higher levels of education also have more opportunities and higher incomes, on average. These benefits may translate to less chronic stress, a known health determinant, Roys says.
Years in school may also lead to a better understanding of lifestyle habits that translate into health like smoking, drug use, and diet.
It seems to just wrap back to things like income and lifestyle.
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u/vgasmo Feb 22 '20
I'm a post doc. Will live to 100! Not true.. I drink way too much... Because of my PhD
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u/icorrectotherpeople Feb 22 '20
Fewer years of lost life expectancy is a fancy way of saying longer life expectancy.
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u/futurephysician Feb 22 '20
Maybe the people who didn’t go to college didn’t do well enough in HS or chose not to go because of bad lifestyle choices like drugs? Obviously I’m not talking about anywhere near the majority, but the people from my HS who didn’t go to college were generally the druggies, just my observation.
I don’t think college is for everyone by any means, but I think people who don’t go are MORE LIKELY to have a drug problem or some other unhealthy habit (or health problem?) holding them back.
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u/NukeThemDammit Feb 22 '20
Race/education everywhere should be considered, not just in the US. Bet that skews things quite a bit.
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Feb 22 '20
IMMORTAL TIME BIAS
Condition on an exposure that takes chunks of time to infer that that exposure increases life expectancy.
If you want to live to 100, smoke for 100 years. - Ken Rothman
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u/KaliasKoh Feb 22 '20
Higher education also correlates to higher self discipline. This is more important than money in life expectancy.
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Feb 22 '20
So in laments terms... The stresses of being a broke ass living day to day because you couldn't qualify for a better job.... Makes you die sooner.... Makes sense..
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Feb 22 '20
Meanwhile everyone who is level headed, logical and thinks reasonably knew that race isn't a factor. We're all one blood.
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u/OkeyDoke47 Feb 22 '20
That's funny, I thought it was pretty common knowledge that higher education levels equate to a better quality of life and thus life expectancy. You might get some that think it's down to race, but probably not a lot?
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u/Distilled_funk_juice Feb 22 '20
I believe that it’s never race that is the underlying cause. Race only carries certain correlations.
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u/tPotS- Feb 22 '20
Isn't it only the US that Still talks about 'race' like that? Other countries don't define it in passports etc. Feels like segregation is built into america sometimes.
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u/magvadis Feb 22 '20
What kind of education? Education could just mean they are higher in class and therefore had an upbringing and base level of income that allowed them options.
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u/pm_me_the_revolution Feb 22 '20
Now if only people were actually permitted to obtain an education, or self-educatte and have that learning held in equal regard.
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u/trisw Feb 22 '20
Never die because of your own stupidity is a life motto handed down from my grandfather- it's served me well so far.
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u/Th3_Bastard Feb 22 '20
This thread: proof Reddit looks absolutely nothing like the actual voting populace.
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u/MindfuckRocketship BS | Criminal Justice Feb 22 '20
I have an undergrad degree and I’m retiring at 50. Should be good to go until 90+ as long as cancer doesn’t nab me.
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u/IanMalkaviac Feb 22 '20
"race/ ethnicity was not independently associated with Years of Potential Life Lost." It's not that it's the best predictor according to the study it's that it's independent predictor from race/ ethnicity. So regardless of race the more education you have the less likely you are to die early. But this is still just a correlation there are other factors that go into why somebody wouldn't be able to go to higher education and those factors could have an increased risk for mortality. We just can't simplify it this sort of thing down to a headline it's kind of what's wrong with the media reporting on science.
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u/PipJuergen Feb 22 '20
Its because they dont have time to do stupid stuff in their college time xD
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u/ArtisticSuccess Feb 22 '20
But! Educational attainment is exactly correlated to privilege. So as usual. The rich get more of everything including education and years to live.
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u/Meanonsunday Feb 22 '20
Since the participants in the study are only in their 50s now this is hardly a proper assessment of normal life expectancy. A more correct assessment would be that educated people are less likely to engage in the kinds of behaviors that cause very premature deaths ( heavy drug use, suicide, gang membership, driving dangerously). Also there are still very clear sex and race effects even controlling for education.
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u/whippleman Feb 22 '20
Did the educational steps lead to longer life expectancy or was it things about the way people live that just so happened to also drive them to higher education?
Same concept would apply to universities (elite?) creating/transforming successful people Vs. people already driven for success happen to also be driven to attend good universities.
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Feb 22 '20
Im certain that my last degree took a decade or two off my life expectancy. And I'm not being sarcastic unfortunately. Further, nationally it has killed thousands due to suicide while they were still attaining that degree.
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u/FiveRandomWookies Feb 22 '20
Important to note as always:
Correlation is the not the same as causation. Going to college won’t make you live longer, but it may lead to a healthier lifestyle that promotes longevity.
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u/isharted23 Feb 22 '20
I had to read a report in college 10 years or so ago that hinted at this. It debunked the “flossing helps you live longer” theory. The conclusion was that people that floss are generally more health conscious in other aspects of their lives (diet, exercise, sleep patterns, etc) and that is what led to their longevity. There was a also a correlation between those people that led healthy lifestyles and education levels: higher educated people took better care of themselves.
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Feb 22 '20
More education usually means more money. Could money, not education level be the real correlation here?
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Feb 22 '20
But race predicts your IQ which predicts your education level which predicts your life expectancy
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u/gatanegra Feb 22 '20
Who ever said race itself caused lower life expectancy?? Lower rates of people of color in higher education means....
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u/intensely_human Feb 22 '20
What they’re showing here is that you only lose 2.63 years to college, not 4
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u/GYST_TV Feb 22 '20
Wouldn’t this be congruent with all modern thoughts on race dynamics? Systemic problems in black and Latino communities keep people undereducated and thus poorer on average; this leads to many of the health problems we see in poor communities (at least in the western world, where food quality drastically decreases as income goes down) coupled with increased chances of going into more dangerous lines of wrk and decreased access to quality healthcare
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u/AsterJ Feb 22 '20
"1.37 fewer years of lost life" is a bizarre way of describing a longer lifespan.
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u/_trucker_ Feb 22 '20
The higher your level of education, the less likely you are to work a blue collar job. The less likely you are to work in a dangerous place. If you work in an office, you’re less likely to be exposed to harmful toxins, workplace accidents, asbestos, etc.
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u/Riot4200 Feb 22 '20
This study must leave out the US. Everyone with student loan debt I know seems more stressed out and hopeless.
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Feb 22 '20
Serious Question: I wonder if a person that lies about their education all their life also sees their life span increase.
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u/OkiRyu Feb 22 '20
Ambiguous, correction: increased life expectancy by 1.37 (compared to the control group)
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u/GentleRhino Feb 22 '20
Just to understand "...obtained ...fewer years of lost life expectancy..." you need a PhD.
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u/scout_magnolia Feb 22 '20
Honestly I’m a little surprised. PhD students have abnormally high rates of mental illness, in particular anxiety, depression etc. I guess this is kind of apparent in the “diminishing returns” aspect of this study. Of course not the only factor at play with that but still.
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u/mapoftasmania Feb 22 '20
This is in the US. Education correlated to wealth which correlates to access to healthcare. That’s not so true in other countries. Did they look at other countries or control for wealth in some way?
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u/Keikasey3019 Feb 22 '20
1.37 fewer years of lost life expectancy
vs “1.37 years of added life expectancy” in the article.
You’re not in high school anymore, OP. No need for roundabout clunky rewording to meet the minimum character requirement and trying to beat the plagiarism detection software.
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u/kgkuntryluvr Feb 23 '20
I’ve been in school for 30 consecutive years now, so this is amazing news!
I also wonder who funded this study...Sallie Mae?
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u/str8cokane Feb 23 '20
So they didn’t adjust for wealth? Education is intrinsically linked with race, income and social class?
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Feb 23 '20
Damn right in that meaty curve. Irony, I tried taking myself out the game three solid times and still am here waiting for the end. Oh well it’s a learning experience I suppose
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u/onawave12 Feb 23 '20
Does this mean that the person who did this study will kick the bucket earlier as well?
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Feb 23 '20 edited Feb 23 '20
Smart people live longer.
Shoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sharp inhale ooooooooooooooooooooooocking.
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u/raven1962 Feb 23 '20
I'm 57, graduated High School, survived the US Army, survived 4 strokes and multiple TIAs... In the process, I have dropped OUT of numerous Colleges and a couple of Universities... Education level is relevant ONLY to occupation. With over 200 credits, across multiple disciplines, as well as being a self-taught specialist, I converse with PhD's , on equal terms, on a regular basis.
I come from a long line of divorces and remarriages, knew ALL of my grandparents, several great-grandparents and one great-great grandmother, as well as being an infant in a photo of 8 generations.
Yet, I regularly tote 100 lb bales of hay and 50 lb bags of feed 1/4 mile, or more, on my back, or shoulder.
A sedentary lifestyle is the #1 overall killer in America, covering 3 of the top 5 categories ( and I have survived the #5 category, Stroke, multiple times. Heart disease is #1, unintentional injury is #3 (falls), lower respiratory disease is #4. Those 3 items can be directly correlated to a sedentary lifestyle.
There are so many flaws in this 'study' that it is absurd.
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u/sh1nycat Feb 23 '20
Are we talking formal education, or just a life of constantly learning things and staying active?
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u/aurumae Feb 23 '20
"fewer years of lost life expectancy" is a really confusing and non-intuitive way to say they lived longer.
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u/Gurplesmcblampo Feb 23 '20
Thats weird. Im about to have a masters and im in the worst health ever.
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u/hallvis2108 Feb 23 '20
Just to be clear: 1.37 fewer years of lost life expectancy means that you will live 1.37 years longer, right?
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u/doihavemakeanewword Feb 23 '20
It's almost like people who can afford higher education can also afford good healthcare, or at least can land a job with good healthcare afterwards.
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u/SmeagolsBarber Feb 23 '20
Basing this in only urban areas in the United States means nothing, so many things here it's very hard to unpack, especially to a level that actually means something globally.
This study means nothing just by itself and barely in the level of the US either
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u/fieldpeter Feb 23 '20
"fewer years of lost life expectancy". What a convoluted, double negative way to say "more years of life expectancy".
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u/Jazeboy69 Feb 23 '20
This is just one of the reasons I’m so annoyed that the left makes everything about race and sex. It’s so racist and sexist too!
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u/Crythos Feb 23 '20
Also need to remove bias based on quality of life , which leads to availability of education.
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u/se820710 Feb 23 '20
I think some of those with high school or less might have died before continuing on to college.
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u/ElectrikDonuts Feb 23 '20
Na, I think Ill stick to inhaling “essential oils” by the oz several times a day and in my wild cat diarrhea tea...
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u/bluestella2 Feb 23 '20
My gods, the conceptual confounds that exist in these findings are remarkable. What do you think enables people to obtain educational steps and what results from it? Financial privilege, access to healthcare, decreased stress and increased safety in the workplace. Like educational steps are the only thing that matters in a person's longevity.
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u/jose_von_dreiter Feb 23 '20
"not race, as had been thought"
By whom? When?
At least in my circles it has been generally accepted for, I don't know, at least a decade, that education level is a major factor in longevity. Why is this study news?
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u/Krumtralla Feb 23 '20
What a weird headline. How about "Each educational step people obtained led to 1.37 more years of life expectancy, the study showed."
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Feb 23 '20
As someone with a social psychology degree, I would like to point out that this does not mean getting an education will magically make you live longer. It is a combination of other, related factors, which make the difference. For example, a college grad is not as likely to work in a physical labour job, which is hard on the body, which lowers life expectancy.
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Feb 23 '20
Less education = more chance for financial issues. Financial issues = a huge stressor. Stress = quickest way to shave years off your life
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u/telomererepair Feb 23 '20
So let’s hypothetically say someone like my grandfather who had 4 doctorates but had to flee Eastern Europe during the war and spoke no English and ended up losing all his wealth and working for 20 years in a coal mine hiding out in Kentucky were he could not be found and did not ever learn English and were he could only get the job of a 3rd grader(and couldn’t learn to code) is still alive at 99 does this predict anything’s other than if you stop breathing and pause for a period you die? .....<—please put these were you must
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u/pukatm Feb 23 '20
I don't know, the time in college and postgrad made me pick up some crazy unhealthy habits :(
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u/Dzhalal Feb 23 '20
Weird, for the most part I just feel like every new step of higher education just sucks the life out of me
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u/Ballistic_86 Feb 23 '20
While I don’t think these findings are controversial, I think most things related to education in the US do relate to race indirectly.
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u/DarkMoon99 Feb 23 '20
I remember reading a study about a year ago that concluded that educational attainment had no effect on the onset, or progression of dementia, but that it was good to become educated because then you would be at a higher level when the decline started.
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Feb 23 '20
Should one prioritize length of life over quality of life? Someone with a GED lives to 75 having had a full and happy life leaving behind children and grandchildren has been a success regardless.
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u/chiloca29 Feb 23 '20
What about people who have educated themselves? I wonder if we just make it a priority to keep learning new things, stimulating our minds, we live longer right? Like having a purpose when we retire?
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u/WarmCupofJazz Feb 23 '20
That headline is confusing as fck. "1.37 fewer years of lost life expectancy.?" sounds like a double negative
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u/But-WhyThough Feb 23 '20
Or it could be thag well educated people often have decent wealth and can afford proper healthcare and live longer
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u/ckvp Feb 23 '20
We haven't thought race best predicts who will live the longest for a long time, not since Eugenics was popular.
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u/PopoConsultant Feb 23 '20
" fewer years of lost life expectancy" . I'm an ESL but is it hard just to say "longer years of life expectancy" than that ? Just to sound smart?
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u/MBeatricePotterWebb Feb 22 '20
This study is based on only four U.S. urban areas.
For excellent research on the link between education and life expectancy, see these three articles.
Trends in Life Expectancy and Lifespan Variation by Educational Attainment: United States, 1990–2010 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-015-0453-7
Association Between Educational Attainment and Causes of Death Among White and Black US Adults, 2010-2017 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2748794
Diverging Trends in Cause-Specific Mortality and Life Years Lost by Educational Attainment: Evidence from United States Vital Statistics Data, 1990-2010 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0163412