Stefanie Sperlich, Batoul Safieddine, Johannes Beller
{"title":"更好的健康状况,但由于教育扩张,德国年轻人的社会和健康不平等日益加剧?反事实调解分析","authors":"Stefanie Sperlich, Batoul Safieddine, Johannes Beller","doi":"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118604","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>Based on theoretical and empirical work on the significance of school education for health, this study examines the influence of educational expansion on self-rated health (SRH) and the development of social and health inequalities between educational groups among young adults in Germany.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study from 1995 to 2020, focusing on individuals aged 25–39 years. Health was measured using the single item ‘self-rated health’. Social inequalities between educational groups were examined in terms of professional position, unemployment rates and household income. Logistic regression analyses were applied to examine health trends. The Relative and Slope Index of Inequality (RII/SII) were calculated to examine the development of social and health inequalities. The influence of school education, professional position, unemployment rates and income on the health trends was analysed using causal mediation analysis.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We found a beneficial effect of educational expansion on SRH of young adults. At the same time, social and health inequalities have increased between educational groups in terms of relative and absolute measures of inequalities. The deterioration in health of young adults with low education could be partly explained by the increase in low-skilled jobs and low incomes.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Our findings suggest that a high educational attainment is becoming increasingly important for success in the labor market and good SRH. Young adults with a low level of education are becoming a smaller but increasingly vulnerable group, which poses challenges for future prevention.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49122,"journal":{"name":"Social Science & Medicine","volume":"385 ","pages":"Article 118604"},"PeriodicalIF":5.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Better health, but growing social and health inequalities among young adults in Germany due to educational expansion? A counterfactual mediation analysis\",\"authors\":\"Stefanie Sperlich, Batoul Safieddine, Johannes Beller\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118604\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>Based on theoretical and empirical work on the significance of school education for health, this study examines the influence of educational expansion on self-rated health (SRH) and the development of social and health inequalities between educational groups among young adults in Germany.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study from 1995 to 2020, focusing on individuals aged 25–39 years. Health was measured using the single item ‘self-rated health’. Social inequalities between educational groups were examined in terms of professional position, unemployment rates and household income. Logistic regression analyses were applied to examine health trends. The Relative and Slope Index of Inequality (RII/SII) were calculated to examine the development of social and health inequalities. The influence of school education, professional position, unemployment rates and income on the health trends was analysed using causal mediation analysis.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We found a beneficial effect of educational expansion on SRH of young adults. At the same time, social and health inequalities have increased between educational groups in terms of relative and absolute measures of inequalities. The deterioration in health of young adults with low education could be partly explained by the increase in low-skilled jobs and low incomes.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Our findings suggest that a high educational attainment is becoming increasingly important for success in the labor market and good SRH. Young adults with a low level of education are becoming a smaller but increasingly vulnerable group, which poses challenges for future prevention.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":49122,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Social Science & Medicine\",\"volume\":\"385 \",\"pages\":\"Article 118604\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":5.0000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-09-19\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Social Science & Medicine\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"3\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625009359\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"医学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Science & Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625009359","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
Better health, but growing social and health inequalities among young adults in Germany due to educational expansion? A counterfactual mediation analysis
Purpose
Based on theoretical and empirical work on the significance of school education for health, this study examines the influence of educational expansion on self-rated health (SRH) and the development of social and health inequalities between educational groups among young adults in Germany.
Methods
We used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel study from 1995 to 2020, focusing on individuals aged 25–39 years. Health was measured using the single item ‘self-rated health’. Social inequalities between educational groups were examined in terms of professional position, unemployment rates and household income. Logistic regression analyses were applied to examine health trends. The Relative and Slope Index of Inequality (RII/SII) were calculated to examine the development of social and health inequalities. The influence of school education, professional position, unemployment rates and income on the health trends was analysed using causal mediation analysis.
Results
We found a beneficial effect of educational expansion on SRH of young adults. At the same time, social and health inequalities have increased between educational groups in terms of relative and absolute measures of inequalities. The deterioration in health of young adults with low education could be partly explained by the increase in low-skilled jobs and low incomes.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that a high educational attainment is becoming increasingly important for success in the labor market and good SRH. Young adults with a low level of education are becoming a smaller but increasingly vulnerable group, which poses challenges for future prevention.
期刊介绍:
Social Science & Medicine provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the dissemination of social science research on health. We publish original research articles (both empirical and theoretical), reviews, position papers and commentaries on health issues, to inform current research, policy and practice in all areas of common interest to social scientists, health practitioners, and policy makers. The journal publishes material relevant to any aspect of health from a wide range of social science disciplines (anthropology, economics, epidemiology, geography, policy, psychology, and sociology), and material relevant to the social sciences from any of the professions concerned with physical and mental health, health care, clinical practice, and health policy and organization. We encourage material which is of general interest to an international readership.