Table 1.
Characteristics of the analysis sample, by education (N=76,703).
| Education | 9–12 years | GED | High school grad. | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9–12 years (dropouts) | 22.1% | |||
| GED | 7.9% | |||
| High school graduates | 70.0% | |||
| Health (N=76,636) | ||||
| Excellent | 14.7% | 15.2% | 23.6% | 21.0% |
| Very good | 23.3% | 26.8% | 33.4% | 30.6% |
| Good | 33.1% | 33.8% | 29.3% | 30.5% |
| Fair | 20.1% | 17.1% | 10.5% | 13.2% |
| Poor | 8.8% | 7.1% | 3.2% | 4.8% |
| Activity limitations (N=76,564) | ||||
| No activity limitations | 69.9% | 72.1% | 83.3% | 79.4% |
| Any activity limitations | 30.1% | 27.9% | 16.7% | 20.6% |
| Control variables | ||||
| Age -- mean (s.e.) | 47.5 (.09) | 45.7 (.15) | 47.0 (.05) | 47.0 (.04) |
| Female | 53.4% | 51.7% | 53.8% | 53.6% |
| Marital status | ||||
| Married | 44.8% | 46.8% | 56.0% | 52.8% |
| Widowed | 6.6% | 4.8% | 4.4% | 4.9% |
| Divorced | 29.2% | 32.7% | 24.6% | 26.2% |
| Never married | 18.8% | 15.1% | 14.5% | 15.5% |
| Unknown | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.6% |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 67.0% | 78.5% | 80.8% | 77.6% |
| Non-Hispanic black | 23.8% | 12.5% | 13.8% | 15.9% |
| Hispanic | 7.5% | 7.1% | 4.1% | 5.1% |
| Other | 1.8% | 2.0% | 1.3% | 1.5% |
| Geographic region | ||||
| Northeast | 15.2% | 14.7% | 19.3% | 18.1% |
| North Central | 22.8% | 25.0% | 29.5% | 27.7% |
| South | 47.6% | 44.0% | 37.1% | 39.9% |
| West | 14.4% | 16.4% | 14.0% | 14.3% |
| Health insurance | ||||
| Uninsured | 23.9% | 23.1% | 14.6% | 17.4% |
| Insured | 75.8% | 76.6% | 85.0% | 82.3% |
| Unknown | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Employment | ||||
| Employed | 55.3% | 63.2% | 72.6% | 68.0% |
| Unemployed | 4.5% | 5.6% | 2.7% | 3.3% |
| Not in LF | 40.1% | 31.2% | 24.5% | 28.5% |
| Unknown | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Income-to-poverty ratio | ||||
| Continuous | 2.2 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 3.0 |
| Categorized | ||||
| Low | 51.6% | 49.2% | 29.9% | 36.2% |
| Mid | 19.8% | 23.2% | 28.5% | 26.1% |
| High | 9.6% | 11.4% | 21.0% | 17.7% |
| Unknown | 19.0% | 16.2% | 20.7% | 20.0% |
| Body weight | ||||
| Not obese | 63.3% | 63.5% | 66.8% | 65.7% |
| Obese | 32.6% | 32.3% | 28.2% | 29.5% |
| Unknown | 4.1% | 4.3% | 5.0% | 4.8% |
| Smoking | ||||
| Never smoked | 32.5% | 24.7% | 44.9% | 40.5% |
| Past smoker | 20.8% | 22.9% | 22.6% | 22.2% |
| Current smoker | 45.9% | 51.6% | 31.4% | 36.2% |
| Unknown | 0.9% | 0.8% | 1.1% | 1.0% |
| Alcohol use | ||||
| Never | 22.0% | 15.4% | 18.1% | 18.7% |
| Former | 23.4% | 23.1% | 17.5% | 19.3% |
| Current | 52.2% | 59.5% | 61.7% | 59.4% |
| Unknown | 2.5% | 2.0% | 2.7% | 2.6% |
Note: U.S.-born adults age 30–65, NHIS 1997–2009. Adjusted for sampling design. All variables are significantly different across education categories at p<.001 except sex (p=.018)