IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v153y2016icp116-122.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Educational attainment, time preference, and health-related behaviors: A mediation analysis from the J-SHINE survey

Author

Listed:
  • Takagi, Daisuke
  • Kondo, Naoki
  • Takada, Misato
  • Hashimoto, Hideki

Abstract

Evidence consistently shows that low education is associated with unhealthy behaviors. A recent study in behavioral economics argued that high time preferences – the tendency to prefer immediate gain to later reward – explain the limited self-control of individuals in making preventive health-related choices. The aim of this study was to examine the mediating effect of time preference on the associations between education and smoking, binge drinking and overweight in young and middle-aged adults living in a Japanese metropolitan area, using a quantitatively measured time discount rate. A population-based probabilistic sample of residents of 25–50 years of age living in four municipalities within Japanese metropolitan areas where economic disparity is relatively large was obtained from the Japanese Study on Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood (J-SHINE). Respondents answered the questionnaire items using a computer-aided personal instrument (CAPI). Data from 3457 respondents were used in this study. Time preferences measured as categorical responses were converted into a continuous number of time discount rates by using the maximum likelihood method. Smoking habit, binge drinking, and body mass index were regressed on educational attainment with demographics and other confounders. The mediating effects of the time discount rate were examined with the bootstrapping method. Results showed that the time discount rate did not mediate the association between education and binge drinking and BMI. Even for smoking, the mediating effect of time discount rate was quite limited, indicating that the proportion of total effect of education mediated was only 4.3% for men and 3.0% for women. The results suggest that modifying time preferences through educational intervention has only limited efficacy in closing disparities in health-related behaviors, and that other mediators fostered by schooling, such as knowledge/skills, group norms and supportive peers/networks, may be more important as modifiable mediators in the link between education and smoking.

Suggested Citation

  • Takagi, Daisuke & Kondo, Naoki & Takada, Misato & Hashimoto, Hideki, 2016. "Educational attainment, time preference, and health-related behaviors: A mediation analysis from the J-SHINE survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 116-122.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:153:y:2016:i:c:p:116-122
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.054
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616300557
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.054?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew M. Jones & Joses M. Kirigia, 1999. "Health knowledge and smoking among South African women," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(2), pages 165-169, March.
    2. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number fuch82-1, March.
    3. Grossman, Michael, 2006. "Education and Nonmarket Outcomes," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 577-633, Elsevier.
    4. Abel, Thomas & Frohlich, Katherine L., 2012. "Capitals and capabilities: Linking structure and agency to reduce health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 236-244.
    5. Marjon van der Pol, 2011. "Health, education and time preference," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 917-929, August.
    6. Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1, June.
    7. Victor R. Fuchs, 1982. "Time Preference and Health: An Exploratory Study," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Health, pages 93-120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. anonymous, 2011. "Stories of connecting," Annual Report, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    9. repec:cup:judgdm:v:8:y:2013:i:3:p:236-249 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Francisco Perez-Arce, 2011. "The Effect of Education on Time Preferences," Working Papers 844, RAND Corporation.
    11. Patrick Peretti-Watel & Olivier L’haridon & Valérie Seror, 2013. "Time preferences, socioeconomic status and smokers' behaviour, attitudes and risk awareness," Post-Print halshs-00801330, HAL.
    12. Chaloupka, Frank, 1991. "Rational Addictive Behavior and Cigarette Smoking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(4), pages 722-742, August.
    13. Myong‐Il Kang & Shinsuke Ikeda, 2014. "Time Discounting And Smoking Behavior: Evidence From A Panel Survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(12), pages 1443-1464, December.
    14. Florence Jusot & Myriam Khlat, 2013. "The role of time and risk preferences in smoking inequalities: A population-based study," Post-Print hal-01526058, HAL.
    15. Kimball, Miles S & Sahm, Claudia R & Shapiro, Matthew D, 2008. "Imputing Risk Tolerance From Survey Responses," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(483), pages 1028-1038.
    16. Ikeda, Shinsuke & Kang, Myong-Il & Ohtake, Fumio, 2010. "Hyperbolic discounting, the sign effect, and the body mass index," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 268-284, March.
    17. repec:dau:papers:123456789/11397 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of the Economics of Education," Handbook of the Economics of Education, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2, June.
    19. Cutler, David M. & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2010. "Understanding differences in health behaviors by education," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-28, January.
    20. Khwaja, Ahmed & Silverman, Dan & Sloan, Frank, 2007. "Time preference, time discounting, and smoking decisions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 927-949, September.
    21. Victor R. Fuchs, 2018. "Schooling and Health: The Cigarette Connection," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Health Economics and Policy Selected Writings by Victor Fuchs, chapter 9, pages 99-113, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    22. Burks, Stephen & Carpenter, Jeffrey & Götte, Lorenz & Rustichini, Aldo, 2012. "Which measures of time preference best predict outcomes: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 308-320.
    23. David P. Mackinnon & James H. Dwyer, 1993. "Estimating Mediated Effects in Prevention Studies," Evaluation Review, , vol. 17(2), pages 144-158, April.
    24. Kenkel, Donald S, 1991. "Health Behavior, Health Knowledge, and Schooling," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(2), pages 287-305, April.
    25. Grossman, Michael, 2000. "The human capital model," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 347-408, Elsevier.
    26. Shane Frederick & George Loewenstein & Ted O'Donoghue, 2002. "Time Discounting and Time Preference: A Critical Review," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 351-401, June.
    27. Fuchs, Victor R. (ed.), 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226267852, December.
    28. Becker, Gary S & Murphy, Kevin M, 1988. "A Theory of Rational Addiction," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(4), pages 675-700, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Smyth, Laura J. & Cruise, Sharon M. & Tang, Jianjun & Young, Ian & McGuinness, Bernadette & Kee, Frank & McKnight, Amy Jayne, 2023. "Differential methylation in CD44 and SEC23A is associated with time preference in older individuals," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    2. Noghanibehambari, Hamid & Tavassoli, Nahid, 2022. "An ounce of prevention, a pound of cure: The effects of college expansions on crime," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Takaaki Ikeda & Kemmyo Sugiyama & Jun Aida & Toru Tsuboya & Ken Osaka, 2019. "The Contextual Effect of Area-Level Unemployment Rate on Lower Back Pain: A Multilevel Analysis of Three Consecutive Surveys of 962,586 Workers in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-11, October.
    4. Pastore, Chiara & Schurer, Stefanie & Tymula, Agnieszka & Fuller, Nicholas & Caterson, Ian, 2020. "Economic Preferences and Obesity: Evidence from a Clinical Lab-in-Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 13915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kim, Younoh & Radoias, Vlad, 2016. "Education, individual time preferences, and asymptomatic disease detection," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 15-22.
    2. Roman Hoffmann & Sebastian Uljas Lutz, 2019. "The health knowledge mechanism: evidence on the link between education and health lifestyle in the Philippines," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(1), pages 27-43, February.
    3. Stefan Boes, 2011. "On the causal effect of schooling on smoking: evidence without exogeneity conditions," Diskussionsschriften dp1102, Universitaet Bern, Departement Volkswirtschaft.
    4. Anderberg, Dan & Chevalier, Arnaud & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 2011. "Anatomy of a health scare: Education, income and the MMR controversy in the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 515-530, May.
    5. de Walque, Damien, 2007. "Does education affect smoking behaviors?: Evidence using the Vietnam draft as an instrument for college education," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 877-895, September.
    6. Bautista, María Angélica & González, Felipe & Martinez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2020. "Does Higher Education Reduce Mortality? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Chile," SocArXiv 5s2px, Center for Open Science.
    7. Jürges Hendrik & Meyer Sophie-Charlotte, 2020. "Educational Differences in Smoking: Selection Versus Causation," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 240(4), pages 467-492, August.
    8. Gabriella Conti & James J. Heckman & Sergio Urzua, 2010. "Early endowments, education, and health," Working Papers 2011-001, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    9. Grimard, Franque & Parent, Daniel, 2007. "Education and smoking: Were Vietnam war draft avoiders also more likely to avoid smoking?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 896-926, September.
    10. Bautista, María Angélica & González, Felipe & Martinez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2020. "Does Higher Education Reduce Mortality? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Chile," SocArXiv 5s2px, Center for Open Science.
    11. Grossman, Michael, 2006. "Education and Nonmarket Outcomes," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & F. Welch (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 577-633, Elsevier.
    12. Grytten, Jostein & Skau, Irene, 2017. "The impact of education on the probability of receiving periodontal treatment. Causal effects measured by using the introduction of a school reform in Norway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 128-136.
    13. Strulik, Holger & Trimborn, Timo, 2018. "Hyperbolic discounting can be good for your health," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 44-57.
    14. Michael Grossman, 2015. "The Relationship between Health and Schooling: What's New?," Working Papers 8, City University of New York Graduate Center, Ph.D. Program in Economics.
    15. Cutler, David M. & Lleras-Muney, Adriana, 2010. "Understanding differences in health behaviors by education," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-28, January.
    16. Gathmann, Christina & Jürges, Hendrik & Reinhold, Steffen, 2015. "Compulsory schooling reforms, education and mortality in twentieth century Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 74-82.
    17. Marjon van der Pol, 2011. "Health, education and time preference," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 917-929, August.
    18. Naci Mocan & Duha Altindag, 2014. "Education, cognition, health knowledge, and health behavior," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(3), pages 265-279, April.
    19. Bautista, María Angélica & González, Felipe & Martínez, Luis R. & Muñoz, Pablo & Prem, Mounu, 2021. "Does Higher Education Reduce Mortality? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Working papers 80, Red Investigadores de Economía.
    20. Robert Nuscheler & Kerstin Roeder, 2016. "To Vaccinate or to Procrastinate? That is the Prevention Question," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(12), pages 1560-1581, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:153:y:2016:i:c:p:116-122. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.