Different studies have established that the life expectancy of uneducated women in the United States has been declining through the years. A new research has now found out that unemployment ups the mortality risks of uneducated white women compared to their counterparts with a high school diploma or higher educational attainment.
The study titled "Explaining the Widening Education Gap in Mortality among U.S. White Women" published in The Journal of Health and Social Behavior looked into three possible explanations for the mortality-education gap in white women. They looked into the data of health behaviors, economic circumstances, and psychosocial factors.
The proponents looked into the data of 46,744 women aged 45 to 87 that were collected through the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File back in 1997 through 2006. They concluded that joblessness and smoking as the main factors for the higher mortality rates.
The data showed that about 16.1 percent of low-educated white women died or 1,161 of 7,189. In comparison only 7.3 percent of the highly educated women died or 2,892 of 39,555.
"We found that social-psychological factors contributed little to the increasing gap. However, economic circumstances and health behaviors played important roles," explained Jennifer Montez, lead author of the study, in a press statement.
"The role of employment is intriguing and, to our knowledge, has not been previously examined as a potential explanation of the growing education gap in mortality," Montez added.
The data is screaming about the value of employment in the lives of women. A job gives women a sense of purpose and a more obvious benefit of having a social network. Employment also drives up self-esteem and stimulates physical and mental activity. Women who have jobs also have better access to avenues of support that they need.
The authors of the study also looked into possible implications of the results to current policies in place. They recommended that the authorities must push hard to increase the rates of high school graduation.
The government must also redesign work-family policies that may help improve the longevity of women by considering more paid leaves for parents, subsidized childcare, among others. The authors believe that this will help low-educated women to conquer obstacles easier since they tend to have non-flexible schedules and low-paying jobs.
