Education and Subjective Health in the Changing Society of Taiwan

Wei-Pang Wang, University of Texas at Austin

The association between education and health has been rarely studied in the non-Western societies experiencing rapid social change. Drawing on data from the 1995 and 2000 Taiwan Social Change Survey (3,762 respondents, ages 20 to 75), this research identifies that education significantly associates with subjective health in Taiwan. Subsequently, the generalizability of three theoretical pathways is ascertained. The work and economic pathway is empirically supported. Self-employment demonstrates notably effects. The social-psychological pathway does not mediate educational effects on health. The human capital pathway is partly supported. Finally, this research manifests that education-health patterns vary across four birth cohorts with distinct opportunity structure of education (the 1920-40, the 1941-55, the 1956-66, and the 1967-79 birth cohort). Educational effect is more salient within the older birth cohorts. The plausible reasons may be attributed to cohort effects or age effects.