Abstract
Prior studies on cohort-specific trends in the education gradient in health treat the distribution of education within a particular cohort as a static “starting place” for understanding subsequent health disparities. This premise has hindered the explorations of substantial sociohistorical changes in opportunity structures in the past century and their role in modifying the relationship between early life structural factors and educational attainment. Changes in early life characteristics of educational groups could alter educational differences in health across birth cohorts. By employing a novel counterfactual approach, this study undertakes the first systematic attempt to accommodate interrelated indicators of socioeconomic status over the life course in comparative cohort studies of the link between education and later-life health. Synthesizing cumulative dis/advantage and fundamental cause of disease theory, this study utilizes Health and Retirement Survey (1992–2012) to explore cohort (born 1890–1953) specific variation in the effect of education on later-life functional limitations. Findings documented a remarkably stable overall negative effect of childhood dis/advantage on education across cohorts. For most of the birth cohorts, the positive effect of education on functional health reduced after accounting for early life selection processes. The reduction, however, was greater in recent two cohorts. This study found a steady increase in education-based inequalities in functional limitations across birth cohorts. The most notable increase was documented between two cohorts born during 1942–1953. This study extends the existing body of knowledge by investigating the role of changing opportunity structures in modifying patterns of education-based inequalities in health across cohorts.