The Effect of Education Level on Health Behavior and Mortality of the Elderly in Taiwan

This study explored the effect of education level - including an individual’s, his/her father’s, and spouse’s - on the individual’s health behavior, and the relationship among gender, health behavior, and mortality. Research data in this study was obtained from Taiwan' Ministry of Health and Welfare from 1989 to 2003. This research focused on the relationship of the lifetime of 4,049 cases of the elderly between gender, their health behaviors, and level of education using the Cox proportional hazard model. The results have shown that 1) Smoking and betel nut chewing are positively correlated with mortality while outdoor exercise is negatively correlated with mortality. 2) One’s education level is positively correlated with smoking, but spouse’s education level is negatively correlated with smoking. 3) Father’s education level is negatively correlated with betel nut chewing. 4) The individual’s and spouse’s education levels are positively correlated with outdoor exercise.