COD E R E D

economic hardship. One of the skills learned through education is to substitute resources in solving aproblem. This problem-solving ability is then successfully applied to acquiring and maintaining health.Personal Control. From this perspective the primary link between education and health is the sense ofpersonal control that leads to the adoption of a healthy lifestyle (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003). The sense ofpersonal control is a learned expectation that outcomes are affected by one’s own choices. Individualswith a sense of personal control feel they can control and alter the environment in which they live. It is theopposite of perceived powerlessness where individuals see no link between efforts and outcomes and feelthey have no control over their life. Internal locus of control (Rotter, 1966), mastery (Pearlin et al., 1981),and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986) and, on the opposite end, fatalism (Wheaton, 1980), helplessness(Seligman, 1975), and perceived powerlessness (Seeman M., 1983) are some of the names under whichsense of control has been studied in psychology and the social sciences. The sense of personal control islearned through experience. Education increases the sense of personal control because school builds theskills, abilities and resources that allow better-educated people to have a rich experience of success atavoiding and solving problems, thus reinforcing their belief that their own behavior can favorably affectoutcomes (Mirowsky & Ross, 1989; Ross C. E. & Mirowsky, 1992; Wheaton, 1980). Education teachesproblem-solving skills and confidence. MR 2003 report a strong association between education and senseof control.According to Mirowsky and Ross’s theory of personal control, the benefit of personal control lies inits effectiveness (Mirowsky & Ross, 1986, 1989). This effectiveness leads educated individuals to takecontrol of their health by seeking out and using health related information and by adopting healthpromoting behaviors. This is partly why people with more education tend not to smoke, to exercise, to eata healthy diet, to drink in moderation, to control their weight and, consequently, to have better healthoutcomes. Using a structural equation model, Mirowsky and Ross (2003) show that sense of controlpromotes a healthy lifestyle and mediates much of the effect of education on health, after controlling forsocioeconomic characteristics such as age, gender, income, economic hardship, parents’ education andsocial support. This does not mean that income, economic hardship and social support do not affecthealth. As we will see in the next sections they are themselves determined by education and are importantinfluences on health. These data mean that much of the influence of education on health is through theindependent effect of sense of control and support the view of education as learned effectiveness.Education provides good jobs and high income, but also transcends them in fostering health.Education and Resources. According to this perspective, education’s main function is to provide materialresources. Education is the main determinant of economic well-being since educational attainment usuallytranslates into economic advantage. Better-educated people, those with a doctoral or professionaldegree, command a household income that is 5.4 times the income of those with elementary schooleducation and 2.6 times the income of those with a high school degree (Mirowsky & Ross, 2003, ch. 4).Education influences household incomes because in the U.S., household income comes overwhelminglyfrom current wages and salaries and from pensions and savings based on past wages and salaries.Education increases the probability of being employed and of having higher wages and salaries during theearning years. It also increases the likelihood of being in a two-income household by increasing theprobability of being married and of being married to someone with similar education and high income(Mirowsky & Ross, 2003).The relationship between income and health is a very robust one (Low, 2005; Lynch et al., 1998;Mirowsky & Ross, 2003; Ross N. A. et al., 2000; Wolfson M. et al., 1999). Income provides materialresources that help families meet basic human needs such as food, shelter and medical care that directlyaffect health (Williams D. R., 1990). Though the overwhelming majority of people in developed countrieshave their basic needs met, differential access to material resources by income still affects healthoutcomes (Evans R. G. et al., 1994). For example, people with low income are more likely to live in poorhousing and poor neighborhoods where they are exposed to unsafe conditions as well as to pathogensand toxins (Mayer, 1997).E-31