Synonyms
Definition
Lack of education as a risk factor of health conditions is part of the category of factors termed socioeconomic status (SES). The level of education can be measured in several manners including years of education (e.g., 5, 10, 18 years), stage of achieved education (e.g., primary school, secondary school, professional vocation, academic degree, graduate studies), as well as types of education (e.g., vocational, humanities, engineering, biomedical, social sciences). Low education has been shown to be a risk factor of multiple disease outcomes and can be construed as a source of health inequalities. For example, Clegg et al. (2009) found that the level of education below high school was a risk factor of cancer in men and women. In a Scottish study, lower education was associated with shorter height, high blood pressure, smoking, poorer lung functioning, and higher risk of death (Davey Smith et al. 1998). In the same study, occupational...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References and Further Readings
Clegg, L. X., Reichman, M. E., Miller, B. A., Hankey, B. F., Singh, G. K., Lin, Y. D., Goodman, M. T., Lynch, C. F., Schwartz, S. M., Chen, V. W., Bernstein, L., Gomez, S. L., Graff, J. J., Lin, C. C., Johnson, N. J., & Edwards, B. K. (2009). Impact of socioeconomic status on cancer incidence and stage at diagnosis: Selected findings from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results: National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Cancer Causes & Control, 20, 417–435.
Davey Smith, G., Hart, C., Hole, D., MacKinnon, P., Gillis, C., Watt, G., Blane, D., & Hawthorne, V. (1998). Education and occupational social class: Which is the more important indicator of mortality risk? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 52, 153–160.
Finkelstein, D. M., Kubzansky, L. D., Capitman, J., & Goodman, E. (2007). Socioeconomic differences in adolescent stress: The role of psychological resources. The Journal of Adolescent Health, 40, 127–134.
Janicki-Deverts, D., Cohen, S., Matthews, K. A., Gross, M. D., & Jacobs, D. R., Jr. (2009). Socioeconomic status, antioxidant micronutrients, and correlates of oxidative damage: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Psychosomatic Medicine, 71, 541–548.
Wu, L. L., Chiou, C. C., Chang, P. Y., & Wu, J. T. (2004). Urinary 8-OHdG: A marker of oxidative stress to DNA and a risk factor for cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetics. Clinical Chimestry Acta, 339, 1–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Gidron, Y. (2016). Education, Lack of: As a Risk Factor. In: Gellman, M., Turner, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1395-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_1395-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference MedicineReference Module Medicine