Gender Disparities in the Education Gradient in Self-Reported Health across Birth Cohorts in China
Background: Variation in the relationship between education and health has been studied intensely over the past few decades. Although there is research on gender disparity and cohort variations in educational effect on health using samples from the U.S. and Europe, research about China’s is limited. Given the specific social changes in China, our study is designed to analyze the gender and cohort patterns in the education-health gradient. Method: The latent growth-curve modeling was used to analyze the gender and cohort variations in the education gradient in self-rated health among Chinese respondents. The study employed longitudinal and nationally representative data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies from the years 2010 to 2016. Each cohort is specified according to their distinct periods of social change in China. Following the analysis, we used latent growth-curve model to illustrate gender and cohort differences in the age-graded education and health trajectories. Results: Although Chinese men have reported to have better health than women in general, women reported 1.6 percentage points higher in self-reported health for each additional year of schooling compared to that of men (P < 0.001). The latent growth curve model showed women’s extra education benefits were persistent overtime. Compared to the people born during the “Old China” (1908-1938), the education gradient in self-rated health did not change for cohorts born before 1955 and after 1977, but the education-health gap changed significantly in the 1956-1960 (O.R.=1.038, P<0.05), 1967-1976 (O.R.=1.058, P<0.001), and 1977-1983 (O.R.=1.063, P<0.001) cohorts. There was a gender difference for the cohort variations in the education-health gradient. For women, the education effect in the 1956-1960 (O.R.=1.063, P<0.05) , 1967-1976 (O.R.=1.088, P<0.001) and 1977-1983 (O.R.=1.102, P<0.001) cohorts was significantly higher than that of the 1908-1938 cohort. On the contrary, the education-health gradient remained the same across all cohorts for men. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the education-health gradient varies across cohorts for women, but the size of education effect remains consistent for men across cohorts. The findings support the resource-substitution hypothesis and not the rising-importance hypothesis in China. We discussed the potential influences of the unique, social transformation and educational expansion in China.
Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF.
Posted 20 Jan, 2020
Received 26 Feb, 2020
On 01 Feb, 2020
Received 01 Feb, 2020
On 28 Jan, 2020
Invitations sent on 27 Jan, 2020
On 16 Jan, 2020
On 15 Jan, 2020
On 15 Jan, 2020
On 17 Dec, 2019
Received 16 Dec, 2019
Received 04 Dec, 2019
On 18 Nov, 2019
On 17 Nov, 2019
Invitations sent on 01 Nov, 2019
On 16 Oct, 2019
On 16 Oct, 2019
On 15 Oct, 2019
On 15 Oct, 2019
Gender Disparities in the Education Gradient in Self-Reported Health across Birth Cohorts in China
Posted 20 Jan, 2020
Received 26 Feb, 2020
On 01 Feb, 2020
Received 01 Feb, 2020
On 28 Jan, 2020
Invitations sent on 27 Jan, 2020
On 16 Jan, 2020
On 15 Jan, 2020
On 15 Jan, 2020
On 17 Dec, 2019
Received 16 Dec, 2019
Received 04 Dec, 2019
On 18 Nov, 2019
On 17 Nov, 2019
Invitations sent on 01 Nov, 2019
On 16 Oct, 2019
On 16 Oct, 2019
On 15 Oct, 2019
On 15 Oct, 2019
Background: Variation in the relationship between education and health has been studied intensely over the past few decades. Although there is research on gender disparity and cohort variations in educational effect on health using samples from the U.S. and Europe, research about China’s is limited. Given the specific social changes in China, our study is designed to analyze the gender and cohort patterns in the education-health gradient. Method: The latent growth-curve modeling was used to analyze the gender and cohort variations in the education gradient in self-rated health among Chinese respondents. The study employed longitudinal and nationally representative data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies from the years 2010 to 2016. Each cohort is specified according to their distinct periods of social change in China. Following the analysis, we used latent growth-curve model to illustrate gender and cohort differences in the age-graded education and health trajectories. Results: Although Chinese men have reported to have better health than women in general, women reported 1.6 percentage points higher in self-reported health for each additional year of schooling compared to that of men (P < 0.001). The latent growth curve model showed women’s extra education benefits were persistent overtime. Compared to the people born during the “Old China” (1908-1938), the education gradient in self-rated health did not change for cohorts born before 1955 and after 1977, but the education-health gap changed significantly in the 1956-1960 (O.R.=1.038, P<0.05), 1967-1976 (O.R.=1.058, P<0.001), and 1977-1983 (O.R.=1.063, P<0.001) cohorts. There was a gender difference for the cohort variations in the education-health gradient. For women, the education effect in the 1956-1960 (O.R.=1.063, P<0.05) , 1967-1976 (O.R.=1.088, P<0.001) and 1977-1983 (O.R.=1.102, P<0.001) cohorts was significantly higher than that of the 1908-1938 cohort. On the contrary, the education-health gradient remained the same across all cohorts for men. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the education-health gradient varies across cohorts for women, but the size of education effect remains consistent for men across cohorts. The findings support the resource-substitution hypothesis and not the rising-importance hypothesis in China. We discussed the potential influences of the unique, social transformation and educational expansion in China.
Due to technical limitations, full-text HTML conversion of this manuscript could not be completed. However, the manuscript can be downloaded and accessed as a PDF.