Education's Effects on Psychological Well-Being

Data from the 1973–1978 General Social Surveys were usedto estimate, by means of multiple regression analysis, the effectsof years of school completed on eight dimensions of psychologicalwell-being for white men, white women, black men, and blackwomen. Estimates are provided of total effects, effects netof socioeconomic variables, and effects net of socioeconomicvariables, family situation, and frequency of attendance ofreligious services. There is little evidence for negative effects,the only statistically significant negative coefficient beingthat for satisfaction with community among white men. Thereis some evidence that education has positive effects on psychologicalwell-being in all subpopulalions except black men, the strongestevidence being for white women. Dummy variable regression estimatesof the effects of different increments of education indicategreater effects from four years of high school than from fouryears of college. There is tentative evidence that mothers'education may have an important positive effect on their offspring'spsychological well-being. . The data reported here are from the 1973–1978 GeneralSocial Surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center(James A. Davis, principal investigator) with funds from theNational Science Foundation. The authors are solely responsiblefor the analyses and interpretations presented here. The dataset was obtained from the Roper Center at the University ofConnecticut. We are indebted to the management of the San AntonioCollege Computer Center for providing computer time for thisproject.