Measuring education in the context of health inequalities
Résumé
Socio-economic inequalities in a wide range of health out-
comes are pervasive and enduring. Most often, the associa-
tion between socio-economic indicators and health is
inversely graded (commonly known as social gradients in
health) so that the higher the socio-economic position (SEP),
the lower is the rate of morbidity and mortality. SEP is a
broad concept capturing resource- and prestige-based meas-
ures. To date, educational level/attainment has been com-
monly used as an indicator of SEP in health inequalities
research due to general acceptance that education is easy to
measure and unlikely to be affected by diseases that begin in
adult life. Of note, early-life health gradients in education
(i.e. health selection hypothesis or reverse causality) might
also exist and needs to be considered. Education is less
prone to non-response error compared with income or
wealth as SEP indicators. In most nations, education shapes
the future occupational position and earning potential of
individuals. However, it is important to keep in mind that in
this context, education is only a ‘proxy’ or a probabilistic in-
dicator of social class, status or income.
Domaines
Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]Origine | Fichiers éditeurs autorisés sur une archive ouverte |
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