College graduates live longer, CDC report shows

WASHINGTON (KABC) -- Getting a bachelor's degree has been proven to provide young adults with better opportunities to land jobs and receive better benefits, but could a college diploma also lead to a longer life?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Wednesday their annual report on health in the United States where statistics showed that, on average, 25-year-olds who received a bachelor's degree had a life expectancy almost nine years longer than those who did not have a high school diploma.

The report said that men without high school diplomas had a life expectancy 9.3 years less than those with a bachelor's degree while women without high school diplomas had a life expectancy 8.6 years less than those with a bachelor's degree.

The researchers believe that highly educated people tend to live a healthier lifestyle and have more access to medical care, which explains these longer life expectancies.

The study also showed that the education of the head of households directly correlates to their children's health. From 2007-2010, children who lived in households where the head had less than a high school education had obesity rates of 24 percent for boys and 22 percent for girls.

Conversely, households where the head had a bachelor's degree or higher had obesity rates of 11 percent for boys and 7 percent for girls.

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