Does having highly educated adult children reduce mortality risks for parents with low educational attainment in Europe?

Albert Sabater,Elspeth Graham,Alan Marshall

doi:10.1017/s0144686x19000795

Albert Sabater, Elspeth Graham + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x19000795

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Abstract

AbstractIt is known that the education of significant others may affect an individual's mortality. This paper extends an emerging body of research by investigating the effect of having highly educated adult children on the longevity of older parents in Europe, especially parents with low educational attainment. Using a sample of 15,015 individuals (6,620 fathers and 8,395 mothers) aged 50 and above, with 1,847 recorded deaths, over a mean follow-up period of 10.9 years from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we examine whether the well-established socio-economic gradient in mortality among parents is modified when their adult children have higher educational attainment than their parents. We find that having highly educated adult children is associated with reduced mortality risks for fathers and mothers with low educational attainment, compared to their counterparts whose adult children have only compulsory education. The association is stronger in early older age (ages 50–74) than in later older age (ages 75 and over). Part of the association appears to be explained by health behaviours (physical (in)activity) and health status (self-rated health). Our findings suggest that the socio-economic–mortality gradient among older parents might be better captured using an intergenerational approach that recognises the advantage of having highly educated adult children, especially for fathers and mothers with only compulsory education.

Highlights

It has been long recognised that individuals in lower socio-economic groups systematically experience higher mortality and worse health outcomes, resulting in a mortality gradient whereby life expectancy increases in step with socio-economic position (Marmot et al, 1987; Link and Phelan, 1995; Chapman et al, 2009; Elo, 2009)
The results for all older parents indicate that having upper secondary/ tertiary-educated adult children appears to be a significant predictor of lower mortality risks for fathers (HR = 0.630, 95% CI = 0.488–0.813, p < 0.01; Hazard ratios (HR) = 0.654, 95% CI = 0.514–0.833, p < 0.01) and mothers (HR = 0.689, 95% CI = 0.519–0.915, p < 0.01; HR = 0.770, 95% CI = 0.591–1.004, p < 0.1) who themselves have post-compulsory education, compared to the reference group of low-educated parents whose adult children have only compulsory education
Our findings indicate that, compared to the reference group, having adult children with tertiary education reduces the risk of mortality for parents with compulsory education in early older age but not in later older age

Summary

Introduction

It has been long recognised that individuals in lower socio-economic groups systematically experience higher mortality and worse health outcomes, resulting in a mortality gradient whereby life expectancy increases in step with socio-economic position (Marmot et al, 1987; Link and Phelan, 1995; Chapman et al, 2009; Elo, 2009). A new line of thinking has indicated that adult children’s socio-economic status may be associated with the health and mortality of their parents, with growing evidence from low- to high-income countries (Zimmer et al, 2002, 2007, 2016; Torssander, 2013, 2014; Friedman and Mare, 2014; Lundborg and Majlesi, 2015; Yahirun et al, 2016, 2017; Yang et al, 2016; De Neve and Harling, 2017; Elo et al, 2018; Smith-Greenaway et al, 2018)

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