Does educational mobility in mid-life affect mortality? A cohort study covering 1.3 million individuals in Sweden

Abstract

Education has been identified as a key marker of social position by several observers, and its major impact on mortality has been examined through various pathways. Generally, these pathways originate from initial life conditions, such as cognitive ability in childhood, childhood socio-economic circumstances and health in early life, which affect both health and educational attainment in adulthood. A more direct pathway is the “learned effectiveness” by which education helps people to control their lives, to cope actively and flexibly, and avoid problems (Diderichsen et al., 2012; Mirowsky, 2017). Other pathways recognize the indirect effect of education through the differential access to valued positions leading to procurement of material resources (increased income, property), social recognition, better working conditions and healthier lifestyle practices. These troughresources can create a status shield effect, which significantly reduces health decline and enables the adoption of strategies to improve health (Balaj, 2022). Notably, the positive health returns of education have also been observed to overcome disadvantages experienced in early life (Bonaccio et al., 2018).