Race, Education Attainment, and Happiness in the United States.
Race, Education Attainment, and Happiness in the United States.
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DOI：
10.15171/ijer.2019.14
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发表时间：
2019-01-01
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Assari, Shervin
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文献类型：
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作者：
Assari, Shervin
背景和目标：正如少数族裔收益递减（MDR）理论所表明的那样，教育程度和其他社会经济地位（SES）指标对非白人健康和福祉的影响小于美国白人。为了检验 MDR 是否也适用于幸福感，在本研究中，比较了黑人和白人受教育程度对美国成年人幸福水平的影响。方法：综合社会调查（1972-2016）是在美国进行的一系列全国性调查。当前的分析包括 54,785 名成年人（46,724 名白人和 8,061 名黑人）。受教育年限（即教育程度）和幸福感分别是主要自变量和主要因变量。此外，性别、年龄、就业状况、婚姻状况和调查年份等其他参数是协变量，种族是焦点效应修正因子。最后，使用逻辑回归模型来分析数据。 结果：根据结果，合并样本中受教育程度高与幸福感较高相关。此外，在幸福感方面，种族和教育程度之间存在显着的交互作用，表明白人比黑人获得的幸福感更大。种族特定模型也证实了这一发现（即，与黑人相比，教育对白人的影响更大）。 结论：总体而言，MDR 理论也适用于教育程度对幸福感的影响。与白人相比，黑人在从教育中获得幸福方面处于劣势，这可能是由于美国的结构性、制度性和人际种族主义和歧视造成的。因此，需要制定经济和公共政策来最大限度地减少黑人在教育程度和其他社会经济地位资源方面的收益递减。
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: As suggests by the Minorities' Diminished Returns (MDR) theory, education attainment and other socioeconomic status (SES) indicators have a smaller impact on the health and well-being of non-White than White Americans. To test whether MDR also applies to happiness, in the present study, Blacks and Whites were compared in terms of the effect of education attainment on the level of happiness among American adults.METHODS: General Social Survey (1972-2016) is a series of national surveys that are performed in the United States. The current analysis included 54,785 adults (46,724 Whites and 8,061 Blacks). The years of schooling (i.e., education attainment) and happiness were the main independent variable and the main dependent variable of interest, respectively. In addition, other parameters such as gender, age, employment status, marital status, and the year of the survey were the covariates and race was the focal effect modifier. Finally, the logistic regression model was used to analyze the data.RESULTS: Based on the results, high education attainment was associated with higher odds of happiness in the pooled sample. Further, a significant interaction was found between race and education attainment on the odds of happiness, showing a larger gain for Whites compared to Blacks. Race-specific models also confirmed this finding (i.e., a larger magnitude of the effect of education for Whites compared to Blacks).CONCLUSION: Overall, the MDR theory also applies to the effect of education attainment on happiness. Blacks' disadvantage in comparison to the Whites in gaining happiness from their education may be due to the structural, institutional, and interpersonal racism and discrimination in the US. Therefore, there is a need for economic and public policies that can minimize the Blacks' diminished returns of education attainment and other SES resources.