Association Between Educational Level and Subjective Health Status: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination...

Educational level is a key determinant of subjective health status. Drawing on conceptual hypotheses regarding how its relationship develops across the life course and differs across cohorts, this study examined long-term patterns in their association using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Integrated data from eight waves (2001-2023) comprising 94,717 adults were analyzed to assess trends in the association between two variables. Inverse probability weighting (IPW) was applied by multiplying the IPW weights with the complex survey design weights. After applying IPW, subjective health status among baby boomers with less than middle school group decreased by 0.28 per decade, while the decline was ≤0.1 among older cohorts. High school and college graduates reported 0.18 and 0.29 points higher subjective health, with slight downward trends over time. The findings support two hypotheses, confirming a persistent association between educational level and subjective health status across time.