Structural racism and the education gradient for early all-cause mortality

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• Health Disparities

Background:

• Higher educational attainment is generally associated with improved health outcomes and longevity.
• However, the benefits of education on health and mortality vary significantly across racial groups.
• Previous research indicates that structural racism may impede the positive effects of education for minoritized populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the moderating role of state-level structural racism on the association between educational attainment and early all-cause mortality.
• To compare these effects specifically for Black and White participants in a nationally representative sample.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), a nationally representative longitudinal sample.
• Measured state-level structural racism using indicators of political participation, employment, education attainment ratios, and judicial treatment.
• Employed random effects models to analyze the association between education and early mortality, comparing Black and White participants.

Main Results:

• Both Black and White participants experienced diminished returns of education on the probability of early mortality.
• Findings suggest that structural racism negatively impacts the mortality risks associated with educational attainment for all participants.
• The detrimental effects of structural racism were found to be particularly pronounced for minoritized populations.

Conclusions:

• Structural racism significantly moderates the relationship between education and early mortality.
• These findings underscore that structural racism imposes substantial costs on public health, affecting all citizens.
• Interventions addressing structural racism are crucial to ensure equitable health benefits from educational attainment, especially for Black individuals and other minority groups.