Are Educational Differentials in Adult Mortality Increasing in the United States?
- 1 November 1995
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Aging and Health
- Vol. 7 (4) , 476-496
- https://doi.org/10.1177/089826439500700402
Abstract
Two recent studies have compared the size of educational mortality differentials among adults in the 1980s to estimates for 1960. Both studies have concluded that educational differentials have increased for males. One study finds a similar increase for females. We reconsider this question by introducing a data source that is better suited to estimating recent differentials than either of the two that have been employed. We also evaluate the quality of the 1960 baseline estimates and introduce broader measures of inequality. We conclude that educational inequalities have widened for males but contracted for working-age females. For both sexes, inequality trends are more adverse for persons aged 65+ than for persons aged 25-64. The role of national health insurance in shaping these trends is briefly considered.Keywords
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