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Title: The Health Penalty of the GED: Testing the Role of Noncognitive Skills, Health Behaviors, and Economic Factors
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Zajacova, Anna
Montez, Jennifer Karas
The Health Penalty of the GED: Testing the Role of Noncognitive Skills, Health Behaviors, and Economic Factors
Social Science Quarterly 98,1 (March 2017): 1-15.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ssqu.12246/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): GED/General Educational Diploma/General Equivalency Degree/General Educational Development; Health/Health Status/SF-12 Scale; High School Diploma; Noncognitive Skills; Socioeconomic Factors

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Objectives: The general educational development (GED) diploma is intended to be equivalent to a high school (HS) credential; however, recent evidence finds that GED recipients have worse health than HS graduates. This study aims to explain the health disadvantage, focusing on three domains: noncognitive skills, health behaviors, and economic factors.

Methods: We analyze data on 3,119 HS graduates and GED recipients in the NLSY79 who reported their health status at the age of 40. Logistic and ordinal regression models examine whether the three domains account for the GED health disadvantage.

Results: The GED health disadvantage was jointly explained by lower noncognitive skills, unhealthy behaviors, and adverse economic circumstances, with the latter being particularly important.

Conclusions: A multipronged approach may be necessary to reduce the GED health disadvantage, including improving noncognitive skills during K-12 education, expanding opportunities for employment and living wage for low-skill workers, and continued focus on improving health behaviors.

Bibliography Citation
Zajacova, Anna and Jennifer Karas Montez. "The Health Penalty of the GED: Testing the Role of Noncognitive Skills, Health Behaviors, and Economic Factors." Social Science Quarterly 98,1 (March 2017): 1-15.