Are Educational Differences in U.S. Self-Rated Health Increasing?: An Examination by Gender and Race

Recent literature has documented changes in educational differences in health over recent time periods, across the life course, and by gender and race. We unite previous literature regarding period, age, gender, and race variations in educational health differences by examining how trends in educational differences in self-rated health have unfolded from 1982 to 2003 and whether or not such trends vary across gender and race groups. We use 22 years of pooled repeated cross-sectional data from the National Health Interview Survey to examine these trends among U.S. adults aged 35–79. Consistent with recent literature, we find a trend toward widening gaps in self-rated health by educational level in recent years for middle-aged and older adults but relatively stable or even slightly narrowing gaps in recent years for younger adults. All of these changes are in the context of generally improving health across this time period, particularly for persons with a college education. Moreover, we find that these trends differ to some degree by race and gender, with young adult black women being the only group among whom educational differences in health are converging. Our findings point to the continued need to address educational health disparities in the United States, which are increasing for most demographic subgroups despite the national goal of their elimination.