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To address this gap in the literature, I develop an index of advantage that quantifies the number of advantages individuals accumulate throughout their education, including such factors as school resources, educational aspirations, and coursework taken. A total of 13 items covering three domains (individual, family, and school) are included in the index, with each item weighted by its independent effect on college attainment. I use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79), a nationally representative sample of young men and women who were 14-21 years old in 1979, restricting the sample to civilian respondents self-reporting as black, Hispanic, or white, and for whom data was collected for work limitations and/or depressive symptomology on at least one time point, to test whether or not (1) increasing number of educational advantages as well as educational attainment is related to physical and mental health over time, and (2) educational advantages and educational attainment result in diverging health trajectories between respondents with high versus low educational advantages, and between respondents with high versus low educational attainment.

The results suggests that the index is associated with a widening disparity over time in predicted probabilities of work limitations and the level of depressive symptomology between respondents in the 10 th and 90 th percentiles on the index of advantage. Similar results were found between respondents with a college education versus those with less than a high school education. Our results point to a need for more extensive examination of the educational system as a potential mechanism of existing health disparities as well as a viable area for future research and policy intervention.

Method: Data come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a nationally representative sample of individuals born between 1957 and 1964. We restrict our sample to parents who had any children aged ≥17 and answered questions on educational debt during midlife (n = 6,562). Craggit models estimated (a) having any child-related educational debt and (b) the amount of debt owed among debtors.

Results: Black parents and parents with more education, higher income, and higher net worth were more likely to report child-related educational debt than White parents and parents with no degree, low-income, or negative net worth. Among debtors, high-income parents had more debt than low-income parents.

Design: We used nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our sample included White (n=4433), Black (n=2420), and Hispanic (n=1501) respondents. Self-reported height and weight were collected on 16 occasions from 1981 to 2008. We employed two-level linear growth models to specify BMI trajectories.

Results: Mothers' education was inversely associated with BMI and BMI change among women. Among men, mothers’ education was inversely associated with BMI; these educational disparities persisted for Whites, diminished for Blacks, and widened for Hispanics. Respondents’ education was inversely associated with BMI among women, but was positively associated with the rate of BMI change among Black women. Respondents’ education was inversely associated with BMI among White and Hispanic men, and positively associated with BMI among Black men. These educational disparities widened for White and Black men, but narrowed for Hispanic men.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that by simultaneously considering multiple sources of stratification, we can more fully understand how the unequal distribution of advantages or disadvantages across social groups affects BMI across the life course.

Methods: Prospective data was used from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), a U.S.-based representative sample of persons born between 1980 and 1984, who were first interviewed in 1997. Sleep duration was assessed in 2002, 2007/2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Random-coefficient models were estimated to examine gender and racial/ethnic disparities in trajectories of sleep duration across early adulthood as a function of educational experiences, employment, and family relationships.

Results: Sleep duration declined during early adulthood. Women reported shorter sleep than men from age 18 to 22, but slept longer than men by age 28. Young adults of black race/ethnnicity reported sleep durations similar to those of young adults of white race/ethnicity until age 24, after which blacks slept less than whites. Educational experiences and employment characteristics reduced gender and racial/ethnic disparities, but family relationships exacerbated them.

Methods: Data come from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. The main analytic sample includes 4714 respondents who were ever enrolled in college and who reported on sleep duration in 2010. Most respondents had completed their college education by 2010, when respondents were 25 to 31 years old. Multivariable linear regression models assessed the cross-sectional association between student loans accumulated over the course of college and sleep duration in 2010, as well as between student debt at age 25 and sleep duration in 2010.

Results: Black young adults with greater amounts of student loans or more student debt reported shorter sleep duration, controlling for occupation, hours worked, household income, parental net worth, marital status, number of children in the household and other sociodemographic and health indicators. There was no association between student loans or debt with sleep for white or latino adults and other racial/ethnic groups.

Conclusions: Student loans may contribute to racial inequities in sleep duration. Our findings also suggest that the student debt crisis may have important implications for individuals’ sleep, specifically and public health, more broadly.

Methods. We analyzed data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, restricting our sample to respondents who had not attained a bachelor's degree by 25 years of age (n = 7179). We stratified all regression models by highest degree attained by 25 years of age.

Results. Among respondents with no degree, a high school diploma, or a post–high school certificate at 25 years of age, attaining at least a bachelor's degree by midlife was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and better self-rated health at midlife compared with respondents who did not attain a higher degree by midlife. Those with an associate's degree at 25 years of age who later attained a bachelor's degree or higher reported better health at midlife.

Conclusions. Attaining at least a bachelor's degree after 25 years of age is associated with better midlife health. Other specifications of educational timing and its health effects across the life course should be studied.

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Copyright of Research on Aging is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts)