Abstract

Background: Parental educational attainment is a strong social determinant of health. Parental educational attainment may, however, be differently important for the health and happiness of various demographic groups. Aim: To understand if parental educational attainment is similarly salient for men and women, we tested gender differences in the association between parental educational attainment and health and happiness of American adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study used data of the General Social Survey (1972-2018), a series of nationally representative surveys in the United States. Our analytical sample included 65,814 adults. The main independent variable was parental education attainment. Outcomes were self-rated health and happiness measured using single items. Age, gender, marital status, employment, and year of the study were the covariates. Gender was the moderator. Results: Overall, individuals with more educated parents reported better self-rated health and happiness. We, however, found significant interactions between gender and parental educational attainment on the outcomes, which suggested that the effect of high parental educational attainment on self-rated health and happiness is larger for women than men. Conclusion: In the United States, while parental educational attainment is an important social determinant of health and happiness, this effect may be more pronounced among women than men.

Keywords: Socioeconomic position; Socioeconomic status; Education; Self-rated health; Happiness