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Pathways from Education to Depression

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Abstract

We examine educational gradients in depression and identify underlying mechanisms of how education might affect depression. We use a nationally representative sample of community-residing adults aged 45 and older from the 2006 Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging, which collected information about depressive symptoms and education. Using tobit regression, we estimate the effect of education on depression and examine what can explain the education gradients by controlling for proxy variables of different pathways linking education to depression. We found cognitive ability, economic resources, social status, social network, and health behavior explain all of the education gradients. Education affects depression through different underlying mechanisms, and the single most important pathway is through developing cognitive ability. Through these pathways, educational attainment influences not only depression for an individual but also for one’s spouse, particularly for women, and parents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. RAND, 1776 Main St., P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA, 90407–2138, USA

    Jinkook Lee

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  1. Jinkook Lee
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Correspondence to Jinkook Lee.

Additional information

This project was supported by Grant Number R21 AG027288-01A2 from the National Institutes on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health, and its contents are solely the responsibility of the author. The author thanks Kevin Feeney for his excellent programming support.

Appendix Table

Appendix Table

Table 5 Tobit regression of the full model
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Lee, J. Pathways from Education to Depression. J Cross Cult Gerontol 26, 121–135 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-011-9142-1

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