The Moderating Role of Early Life Family Environment on the Education-Health Relationship

This study examines how early life family environment moderates the relationship between educational attainment and cardiometabolic risk across racial/ethnic and nativity groups using longitudinal data from Add Health. We find that college education is associated with lower cardiometabolic risk for all groups, but the relationship is weakest for Black young adults. The education-health relationship differs significantly for Black adults compared to White adults in five out of eight family contexts examined, including non-two-parent households, high socioeconomic status, and varying levels of family cohesion and conflict. For Hispanic young adults, the education-health relationship is generally similar to Whites across family contexts, with the exception of U.S.-born Hispanics from non-two-parent households. These findings highlight the complex interplay between educational attainment, family environment, and health outcomes, suggesting that the health benefits of higher education vary significantly depending on racial/ethnic background and early life family context.