Why does college education matter? Unveiling the contributions of selection factors

Abstract

This study investigates the contributions of pre-college selection factors that may partially lead to the college degree – health link by using longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort. Propensity score matching method finds that the effects of college degree on various health outcomes (self-rated health, physical component summary index, health limitations, CESD scale) are reduced by 51% on average (range: 37%–70%) in the matched sample. Among these observed factors, cognitive skill is the biggest confounder, followed by pre-college health and socioeconomic characteristics (marital aspiration, years of schooling, marriage, fertility, poverty status) and non-cognitive skills (e.g., self-esteem). Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control scale is not significantly associated with all four health measures. The effects of most indicators of family background (parental education, family stability, family size, religious background) on the health of adult children are not direct but through offspring’s early adulthood health and socioeconomic status.

Postsecondary Educational Attainment and Health among Younger U.S. Adults in the “College-for-All” Era

“…To compare our results with those of prior studies, we added an additional model comparing BA holders to all groups with lower schooling combined. Consistent with prior studies (Bauldry 2014;Lawrence 2017;Zheng 2017), these models reveal a clear BA threshold effect: BA completion is associated with significantly better physical and mental/global health than not completing a BA for six of the eight outcomes except hypertension and diabetes.…”

Challenges in Isolating the Effect of College Attainment and Debt Accumulation on Young Adult Self‐Concept

“…In sum, our results are largely consistent with several recent studies that encourage us to rethink the conventional wisdom when it comes to the direct effects of educational attainment (Duke and Macmillan 2016; Morin et al 2013; Olsen 2017; Zheng 2017). As researchers continue to address matters of omitted variable bias, selection effects, and reverse causality, we find that strong preliminary associations between educational attainment and later social outcomes are reduced.…”

“…We assume the college effect will decrease when controlling for adolescent self‐concept because part of the observed college effect is the mediating role it plays for adolescent self‐concept, thus lending support to prior research documenting the importance of early trajectories and their relative stability over time. It may be the case that college clearly has self‐concept benefits, but largely for those who are poised to reap those benefits in the first place (Duke and Macmillan 2016; Zheng 2017).…”

“…There is little consensus on what approach most persuasively disentangles experiences in the education system with the development and progression of self‐concept trajectories, prompting researchers like Marsh and O'Mara (2008) to reanalyze and revisit disparate findings on the topic at hand. Furthermore, recent studies on the link between college education and health are quick to point out the importance of omitted variable bias and selection effects (Duke and Macmillan 2016; Zheng 2017). With these challenges in mind, we aim to provide a more comprehensive analysis of prior self‐concept trajectories to better understand how these early developmental pathways predict college attendance and completion in the first place as well as subsequent measures of these same self‐concept dimensions later in the life course.…”

How College Makes Citizens: Higher Education Experiences and Political Engagement

“…In other words, does college increase civic engagement, or are the effects we see due to selection into college? The social capital available to children early in life has a strong effect on the likelihood of their eventually graduating college (Mayger, Hochbein, and Dever 2017), and Zheng (2017) found that selection effects account for a significant proportion of the effect of college education on health outcomes, but college education remains an independent predictor of those outcomes even after accounting for selection. Much of the research on returns to higher education is about the economic returns to education, focusing on it as a private good (for reviews, see Barrow and Malamud 2015;Hout 2012) and on relative effects of educational achievement (Horowitz 2018) and overmatch (Vaisey 2006).…”