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Self-Rated Health. Evidence accumulated for more than 20 years indicates that self-rated health (SRH) isa powerful and reliable predictor of clinical outcome and mortality, even 10 years after the initial self-rating(Fayers & Sprangers, 2002; Idler & Angel, 1990). The association of SRH and mortality is particularlystrong among individuals who report poor health (Burstrom & Fredlund, 2001) and this relationship isfound among men and women, and among all the main ethnic groups in the U.S. (McGee et al., 1999).SRH has been proposed as a more reliable predictor of mortality even when compared to physician-ratedhealth (Mossey & Shapiro, 1982). The measurement of SRH is captured by a single question “In general,would you say your health is …?” that is rated on a five-point Lykert scale from very good to very poor.SRH differs substantially across educational levels. About 17% of individuals with elementary education,11% of those who did not complete high school, and 6% of those who completed high school report pooror very poor health, while only 2.5% of individuals with college degrees do so (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003).Physical impairment, such as difficulty in climbing stairs, kneeling or stooping, lifting and carryingbags of groceries, doing household work, shopping and getting around town, seeing even with glasses,and hearing, follows an educational gradient. Individuals who did not finish high school were more likelyand those with college degrees least likely to report physical impairment (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003).Mirowsky and Ross calculated that between 70% and 50% of physical difficulty can be attributed to loweducation.Education improves the likelihood of people feeling physically fit, having lots of energy, enjoyinglife, being happy, and feeling hopeful about the future and decreases the likelihood of having troublesleeping, finding everything an effort, being unable to get going, having trouble keeping their minds onthings, and suffering from backaches and headaches (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003).Risk Factors. The educated tend to have healthier lifestyles than those with less education. Researchersin diverse disciplines have noted that more educated persons are more aware of health risks and morelikely to initiate actions to reduce these risks (Williams D. R., 1990). According to Mirowsky and Ross(2003), education encourages people to acquire information with the intent to use it and makes individualsmore effective users of information. Thus, well-educated persons pull together various healthy elements ofdifferent lifestyles. The more educated exercise more, are less likely to drink in excess, smoke less, andare less overweight than those with less education (Ross C. E. & Bird, 1994; Ross C. E. & Wu, 1995).Individuals with more education are less likely to smoke than those with less education. They arealso more likely to have never smoked and, if they have smoked, to have quit smoking (Helmert et al.,1989; Jacobsen & Thelle, 1988; Liu et al., 1982; Matthews et al., 1989; Millar & Wigle, 1986; Mirowsky &Ross, 2003; Shea et al., 1991; Wagenknecht et al., 1990; Winkleby et al., 1992). While about 50% ofindividuals with some high school smoke, only approximately 15% of those with advanced degrees smoke(Mirowsky & Ross, 2003).The well-educated are more likely to be physically active. Walking and engaging in strenuousexercise increases with education (Ford et al., 1991; Helmert et al., 1989; Jacobsen & Thelle, 1988; Leigh,1983; Mirowsky & Ross, 2003; Shea et al., 1991). The association between being overweight andeducation differs by gender. Better educated women tend to be less overweight than those with lesseducation (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003). But body weight does not seem to be correlated with educationalattainment for men (Ross C. E. & Mirowsky, 1983). This could be because lower educated men are morelikely to be in jobs that require physical effort. A recent review confirms a negative relationship betweeneducation and weight gain (Ball & Crawford, 2005). Alcohol abuse is more common among people withlower education (Darrow et al., 1992; Midanik et al., 1990; Romelsjo & Diderichsen, 1989). Mirowsky andRoss (2003) report that better educated individuals are more likely to drink in moderation. Mirowsky andRoss (2003) argue that healthy behaviors associated with education are not consistently correlated withother sociodemographic characteristics. For example, men exercise more than women but smoke moreand married people are more overweight than non-married people but smoke less. They state that “Onlyeducation correlates positively and consistently with health behaviors” (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003, p. 53).E-29