Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Association Between Blood Pressure And Years Of Schooling Versus Educational Credentials: Test Of The Sheepskin Effect, Sze Yan Liu, Stephen L. Buka, Crystal D. Linkletter, Ichiro Kawachi, Laura Kubzansky, Eric B. Loucks

Sze Yan Liu

Purpose

Attaining a degree may offer greater opportunities for health than years of schooling alone. This study examines whether there is a degree, or “sheepskin”, effect on the association between education and blood pressure.

Methods

Multivariable-adjusted ordinal and linear regression models assessed associations of years of schooling and degree attainment with systolic and diastolic blood pressure in a sample of 552 adults aged 38–47 years.

Results

Years of schooling was inversely associated with systolic blood pressure adjusting for age, gender and race (β=−0.4, 95% CL:−0.7,−0.1 mmHg systolic blood pressure/year of schooling). Additional adjustment for mother’s education, childhood verbal intelligence quotient, …

Historical Differences In School Term Length And Measured Blood Pressure: Contributions To Persistent Racial Disparities Among Us-Born Adults, Sze Yan Liu, Jennifer M. Manly, Benjamin Capistrant, M Maria Glymour

Sze Yan Liu

Abstract

Introduction

Legally mandated segregation policies dictated significant differences in the educational experiences of black and white Americans through the first half of the 20^th century, with markedly lower quality in schools attended by black children. We determined whether school term length, a common marker of school quality, was associated with blood pressure and hypertension among a cohort of older Americans who attended school during the de jure segregation era.

Methods

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I and II data were linked to state level historical information on school term length. We used race and gender-stratified linear regression …