First-generation college graduates have similar depressive symptoms in midlife as multi-generational college graduates

Erika Meza; Jillian Hebert; Maria E Garcia; Jacqueline M Torres; M Maria Glymour; Anusha M Vable

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101633

First-generation college graduates have similar depressive symptoms in midlife as multi-generational college graduates

SSM Popul Health. 2024 Feb 16:25:101633. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101633. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Authors

Erika Meza^{1

2}, Jillian Hebert³, Maria E Garcia^{1

4}, Jacqueline M Torres¹, M Maria Glymour⁵, Anusha M Vable³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of California, San Francisco, 550 16th St 2nd Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA.
² Center for Population and Development Studies Harvard University, 9 Bow St. Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
³ Department of Family and Community Medicine University of California, San Francisco, 995 Potrero Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94110, USA.
⁴ Division of General Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 1701 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA, 94115, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St, Boston, MA, USA.

Abstract

Purpose: Higher education may protect an individual against depressive symptoms, yet, disadvantaged socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood, often measured by lower parental education, may put them at higher risk for depressive symptoms later in life. This study evaluates if midlife depression is similar for first-generation and multi-generation college graduates.

Methods: For US Health and Retirement Study (HRS) participants ages 55-63 (N = 16,752), we defined a 4-category exposure from parents' (highest of mother or father's) and participant's own years of education, with 16 years indicating college completion: multi-gen (both $\geq$ 16 years: reference); first-gen (parents <16; own $\geq$ 16); only parent(s) (parents $\geq$ 16; own <16); and neither (both <16) college graduates across three birth cohorts. We used linear regressions to evaluate relationships between college completion and depressive symptoms measured by an 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies - Depression (CES-D) scale. Models pooled over time evaluated differences by sex, race/ethnicity, and birthplace.

Results: First-gen and multi-gen college graduates averaged similar depressive symptoms in midlife ( $β$ : 0.01; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.13). Results were similar by sex and race/ethnicity.

Conclusion: Consistent with resource substitution theory, college completion may offset the deleterious effects of lower parental education on midlife depressive symptoms for first-generation graduates.

Keywords: First-generation; Intergenerational education; Midlife depressive symptoms.

Grants and funding

R01 AG069092/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States