Int J Epidemiol Res. 2019;6(2):76-82. doi: 10.15171/ijer.2019.14.

Race, Education Attainment, and Happiness in the United States.

International journal of epidemiologic research

Shervin Assari

PMID: 31363495 PMCID: PMC6666429 DOI: 10.15171/ijer.2019.14

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: As suggests by the Minorities' Diminished Returns (MDR) theory, education attainment and other socioeconomic status (SES) indicators have a smaller impact on the health and well-being of non-White than White Americans. To test whether MDR also applies to happiness, in the present study, Blacks and Whites were compared in terms of the effect of education attainment on the level of happiness among American adults.

METHODS: General Social Survey (1972-2016) is a series of national surveys that are performed in the United States. The current analysis included 54,785 adults (46,724 Whites and 8,061 Blacks). The years of schooling (i.e., education attainment) and happiness were the main independent variable and the main dependent variable of interest, respectively. In addition, other parameters such as gender, age, employment status, marital status, and the year of the survey were the covariates and race was the focal effect modifier. Finally, the logistic regression model was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS: Based on the results, high education attainment was associated with higher odds of happiness in the pooled sample. Further, a significant interaction was found between race and education attainment on the odds of happiness, showing a larger gain for Whites compared to Blacks. Race-specific models also confirmed this finding (i.e., a larger magnitude of the effect of education for Whites compared to Blacks).

CONCLUSION: Overall, the MDR theory also applies to the effect of education attainment on happiness. Blacks' disadvantage in comparison to the Whites in gaining happiness from their education may be due to the structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism and discrimination in the US. Therefore, there is a need for economic and public policies that can minimize the Blacks' diminished returns of education attainment and other SES resources.

Keywords: Blacks; Class; Ethnicity; Happiness; Race; Socioeconomic status; Whites

Conflict of interest statement

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Publication Types

• Journal Article

Grant support

• P60 MD006923/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/United States
• R01 CA201415/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States
• R01 DA035811/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States