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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Life-Course Epidemiology and Social Inequalities in Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1480050
This article is part of the Research Topic Homelessness, Social Exclusion, Loneliness: Increasing Social and Health Issues View all 6 articles

The relationship between educational attainment, lifestyle, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults: A longitudinal survey from 2010 to 2020

Provisionally accepted
Xinyan Xiong Xinyan Xiong 1Rita Xiaochen Hu Rita Xiaochen Hu 2Wenyuan Ning Wenyuan Ning 3*
  • 1 Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
  • 2 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
  • 3 Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Abstracts: Education holds significant implications for individual health. This work aims to examine the relationship between educational attainment, lifestyle, self-rated health, and depressive symptoms among Chinese adults. We used China Family Panel Studies data from 2010-2020. Multiple linear regression models were used to explore the relationship between educational attainment and self-rated health and depressive symptoms, where multidimensional lifestyle (sleep time, exercise time, overtime time, leisure time, housework time, and protein intake) was the mediator variable of the above relationship, and the causal step method was used to test the mediating effect. Our findings show that educational attainment is associated with higher levels of self-rated health and lower levels of depressive symptoms. More importantly, educational attainment also indirectly affects individuals' self-rated health and depressive symptoms through lifestyle. These findings reveal health interventions to develop education further and improve its quality.

    Keywords: Educational attainment, Sleep time, Exercise time, overtime, leisure time, Housework time, self-rated health, depressive symptoms

    Received: 13 Aug 2024; Accepted: 14 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xiong, Hu and Ning. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wenyuan Ning, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, 430073, Hubei Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.