College graduates live much healthier lives than those with less education, but research has yet to document with certainty the sources of this disparity. This study examines why U.S. young adults who earn college degrees exhibit healthier behaviors than those with less education. I use data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, which offers information on education and health behaviors across adolescence and young adulthood (N = 14,265). Accounting for selection into college, degree attainment substantially reduces the associations between college degree attainment and health behaviors, but college degree attainment demonstrates a strong causal effect on young adult health. Financial, occupational, social, cognitive, and psychological resources explain less than half of the association between college degree attainment and health behaviors. The healthier behaviors of college graduates are the result of sorting into educational attainment, embedding of human capital, and mechanisms other than socioeconomic and psychosocial resources.
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