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Literacy and self-rated health: Analysis of the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA)
[journal article]
Abstract The relationship between education and health is well-established. The empirical literature finds that individuals with higher levels of education experience lower risks of poor health outcomes compared to individuals with less education. Outstanding to this literature is the examination of a dimens... view more
The relationship between education and health is well-established. The empirical literature finds that individuals with higher levels of education experience lower risks of poor health outcomes compared to individuals with less education. Outstanding to this literature is the examination of a dimension of education - literacy - and its association with health. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between literacy (reading, numeracy) and health (self-reported health). We use data from the 2012 wave of the Canadian Longitudinal International Survey of Adults (LISA). The LISA includes rich information on health, broader sociodemographic characteristics (income, age, sex, etc.) as well as information on literacy skills from the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). Using logistic regression, we first reaffirm the association between education and self-reported health. We then find that after controlling for measures of literacy, understood as proficiency in reading and numeracy, the magnitude of effect of education on health is reduced. Skills in literacy reduce the risk of reporting poor health, but only for the older subset of respondents (ages 40-65). Our results suggest that literacy should not be understated in empirical research on education and health, and in fact serve to sharpen our understanding of how education impacts health by drawing attention to indirect pathways.... view less
Keywords
literacy; health behavior; health; self-assessment; training; life career; elderly; level of education
Classification
Sociology of Education
Free Keywords
self-reported health; PIAAC
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 1-8
Journal
SSM - Population Health, 17 (2022)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101038
ISSN
2352-8273
Status
Published Version; reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0