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Research on Aging
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Accumulating Disadvantage Over the Life Course

Evidence From a Longitudinal Study Investigating the Relationship Between Educational Advantage in Youth and Health in Middle Age

Katrina M. Walsemann

University of South Carolina

Arline T. Geronimus

University of Michigan

Gilbert C. Gee

University of California, Los Angeles

Recent studies suggest the importance of examining cumulative risk or advantage as potential predictors of health over the life course. Researchers investigating the cumulative health effects of education, however, have mainly conceptualized education in years or degrees, often disregarding educational quality and access to educational opportunities that may place individuals on divergent academic trajectories. We investigate whether educational advantages in youth are associated with an individual's health trajectory. We develop a novel index of educational advantage and employ random-intercept modeling using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. A widening health disparity was found in adulthood between respondents with greater and those with fewer educational advantages in youth. Furthermore, among respondents with few educational advantages, Blacks experience a greater health burden as they age compared to Whites and Hispanics. These results suggest that differential access to educational advantages during youth may contribute to persisting health disparities in adulthood.

Key Words: race/ethnicity • cumulative disadvantage • educational inequality

Research on Aging, Vol. 30, No. 2, 169-199 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0164027507311149
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