Less Than High School Education

Less Than High School Education in United States

United States

Educational attainment is a strong predictor of future health outcomes. The connection between education and health is well documented. Lower educational attainment among adults is correlated with poorer health. Higher educational attainment is associated with better jobs, higher earnings, increased health knowledge, better self-reported health and fewer chronic conditions. Individuals with lower educational attainment are at greater risk of adverse health outcomes such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, lung disease, mental health problems and premature death. Students who do not finish high school also are more likely to experience incarceration and those who have been incarcerated have a harder time accessing opportunities to continue or further their education.

According to one study, investments to reduce education-related disparities could save up to eight times more lives than equal investments in medical advances. Each high school dropout is estimated to cost the United States more than $163,000 in lost revenue over a lifetime based on a calculation that uses the lifetime differences between dropouts and graduates in income, taxes paid, government spending on health, crime and welfare.

The high school graduation rate is lower among:

• American Indian/Alaska Native and non-Hispanic Black students compared with Asian and Non-Hispanic white students.
• Students from households with lower socioeconomic status. 
• Students who had children at a young age.
• Disabled students compared with students without a disability.
• Students with limited English proficiency compared with students who are proficient in the English language.

Keeping children and adolescents in school through high school graduation and beyond is a key strategy to promote equitable health outcomes. Several high school completion programs have been successful in improving high school graduation rates by targeting high-risk populations. Programs aimed at increasing high school graduation rates — and ultimately health equity — include: 

• Vocational training and alternative schooling.
• Social-emotional skills training.
• College-oriented programming, mentoring and counseling.
• Attendance monitoring and case management.
• Community service opportunities.

According to one study, interventions to increase high school graduation rates should target health-related and socioeconomic barriers to graduation. These include absenteeism, developmental delay due to chronic stress, chronic illness, poverty, hunger, homelessness and teen pregnancy. The expansion of school-based health centers can help address these barriers.

Increasing the proportion of students who graduate in four years with a regular diploma is a Healthy People 2030 adolescent health objective.

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Cutler, David, and Adriana Lleras-Muney. “Education and Health.” Policy Brief #9. Ann Arbor, MI: National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at University of Michigan, March 2007. http://www.npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief9/.

DeBaun, Bill, and Martens Roc. “Well and Well-Off: Decreasing Medicaid and Health-Care Costs by Increasing Educational Attainment.” Washington, D.C.: Alliance for Excellent Education, July 2013. https://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/WellWellOff.pdf.

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Lundborg, Petter. “The Health Returns to Schooling—What Can We Learn from Twins?” Journal of Population Economics 26, no. 2 (July 11, 2012): 673–701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-012-0429-5.

Peerson, Anita, and Margo Saunders. “Health Literacy Revisited: What Do We Mean and Why Does It Matter?” Health Promotion International 24, no. 3 (April 16, 2009): 285–96. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dap014.

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Rumberger, Russell W., and Daniel J. Losen. “The High Cost of Harsh Discipline and Its Disparate Impact.” Los Angeles, CA: UCLA: The Civil Rights Project / Proyecto Derechos Civiles, June 1, 2016. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/85m2m6sj.

“Why Education Matters to Health: Exploring the Causes.” Issue Brief #2. Education and Health Initiative. Richmond, VA: The VCU Center on Society and Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, April 2014. https://societyhealth.vcu.edu/media/society-health/pdf/test-folder/CSH-EHI-Issue-Brief-2.pdf.

Woolf, Steven H., Robert E. Johnson, Robert L. Jr. Phillips, and Maike Philipsen. “Giving Everyone the Health of the Educated: An Examination of Whether Social Change Would Save More Lives than Medical Advances.” American Journal of Public Health 97, no. 4 (April 2007): 679–83. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2005.084848.