Educational attainment and self-rated health among African-Americans in Pitt County, NC

• Main Authors: Eeshwar Chandrasekar (Author), Zimo Banta (Author), Kathleen Ragan (Author), Michelle Schmitz (Author), Sherman James (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Georgia Southern University, 2016-10-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2471-9773; 10.21633/jgpha.6.2s15
• Keywords: education; pitt county study; self-rated health; african-american; health disparities; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association, Vol 6, Iss 5 (2016)

<strong>Background:</strong> To help fill the knowledge gap regarding relationships between educational attainment and self-rated health (SRH) in minority populations, we analyzed the data of a community-based cohort of African-Americans residing in Pitt County, NC, between 1988 and 2001. <strong>Methods:</strong> Data from the Pitt County Study (a community-based, longitudinal survey of risk factors for hypertension and related disorders disproportionately affecting African-Americans) were used to explore associations between educational attainment and SRH, stratified by sex, in a cohort of individuals from 1988 (n=1,773), 1993 (n=1,195), and 2001 (n=1,117) using continuous, ordinal, and binary correlated data analyses. <strong>Results:</strong> For males and females with less than a high school education, the odds of reporting poor or fair health (compared to excellent, very good, or good health) were 2.75 (95% CI: 1.54-4.91) and 1.78 (95% CI: 1.15-2.75) times greater, respectively, than among those who completed a college degree or higher. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Across all analyses, individuals with lower educational attainment reported lower SRH scores, and the association differed by sex. Social support may be a factor in these differences. More research is needed, however, to assess relationships between educational attainment, social support, and SRH for African-Americans and other minority populations.