Educational Differences in U.S. Adult Mortality: A Cohort Perspective

• Published in: American sociological review Vol. 77; no. 4; pp. 548 - 572
• Main Authors: Masters, Ryan K., Hummer, Robert A., Powers, Daniel A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.08.2012; SAGE Publications; American Sociological Association
• Subjects: Adult education; Adults; African Americans; Age; Age Differences; Age groups; Aging problems. Death; Black white differences; Black White Relations; Cancer; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Causes of death; Cognition & reasoning; Cohort Analysis; Demography; Diseases; Education; Educational Attainment; Educational Research; Epidemiology; Females; Gender differences; Health sciences; Heart; Heart disease; Heart Diseases; Heart Disorders; High Schools; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic people; Human ecology and demography; Hypotheses; Level of education; Lung cancer; Lung neoplasms; Males; Medical research; Men; Mortality; Mortality Rate; Mortality Rates; Neighborhood; Pattern Recognition; Predation; Racial Differences; Risk; Secondary education; Secondary schools; Social Networks; Social Stratification; Sociology; Sociology of the family. Age groups; Studies; Theory; Thinking Skills; Time; Time Periods; Trends; U.S.A; United States; Whites; Womens health; Yang, Yang; United States; United States Of America; United States > US; disparities; mortality; age-period-cohort; education; trends; Hierarchy; Educational Attainment; Morality; Education; Mortality; Classification; Race; Cohort Analysis; Adult; Hazard
• ISSN: 0003-1224; 1939-8271
• DOI: 10.1177/0003122412451019

We use hierarchical cross-classified random-effects models to simultaneously measure age, period, and cohort patterns of mortality risk between 1986 and 2006 for non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black men and women with less than a high school education, a high school education, and more than a high school education. We examine all-cause mortality risk and mortality risk from heart disease, lung cancer, and unpreventable cancers. Findings reveal that temporal reductions in black and white men's and women's mortality rates were driven entirely by cohort changes in mortality. Findings also demonstrate that disparate cohort effects between education groups widened the education gap in all-cause mortality risk and mortality risk from heart disease and lung cancer across this time period. Educational disparities in mortality risk from unpreventable cancers, however, did not change. This research uncovers widening educational differences in adult mortality and demonstrates that a cohort perspective provides valuable insights for understanding recent temporal changes in U.S. mortality risk.