Does comprehensive education reduce health inequalities?

Popham, F. and Iannelli, C. (2021) Does comprehensive education reduce health inequalities? SSM - Population Health, 15, 100834. (doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100834)

Abstract

This article analyses the impact of comprehensive education on health inequalities. Given that education is an important social determinant of health, it is hypothesised that a more equitable comprehensive system could reduce health inequalities in adulthood. To test this hypothesis, we exploited the change from a largely selective to a largely comprehensive system that occurred in the UK from the mid-1960s onwards and compare inequalities in health outcomes of two birth cohorts (1958 and 1970) who attended either system. We studied physical and mental health, health behaviours and life satisfaction in middle age as outcomes and absolute and relative inequalities by social class (of origin and destination) and education. Inverse probability weighting was used to control confounding by socio-economic and education background, and ability test score taken prior to secondary school entry. We did not find consistent evidence that health inequalities were smaller under the comprehensive compared to the selective system and the results were robust under different model specifications. Our study adds to the sparse but growing literature that assesses the impact of social policy on health inequalities.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Popham, Dr Frank

Creator Roles

Popham, F.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Popham, F., and Iannelli, C.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > MRC/CSO SPHSU
• Journal Name: SSM - Population Health
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2352-8273
• ISSN (Online): 2352-8273
• Published Online: 06 June 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in SSM - Population Health 15:100834
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
302259		Analysing Multi-Dimensional and Multi-Scale Inequalities in Scottish Society	Nema Dean	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/P009301/1	M&S - Statistics