Summary: New research finds that Americans with lower levels of education are experiencing faster biological aging than those with more schooling, and that this gap has widened over the past three decades. Biological age — which gauges internal physiological health rather than simply years lived — indicates that people with a college degree are aging more slowly at the bodily level.
Although overall rates of biological aging have slowed in the United States, the gains have not been evenly shared. Adults without a high school diploma show the least improvement, underscoring education as a major social determinant of health and a growing driver of health inequality.
Key Facts
- Biological Age vs. Chronological Age: Biological age reflects the functioning and resilience of organs and systems, capturing health differences that chronological age alone cannot.
- Widening Gap: The difference in biological aging between the least and most educated adults almost doubled over roughly 30 years.
- Public Health Importance: Educational disparities translate into long-term differences in health, disability, and mortality, making them a pressing social and policy concern.
Source: USC
A team at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology reports that lower educational attainment is linked to faster biological aging among U.S. adults, and that educational differences in aging have grown from the late 1980s to the late 2010s.
The researchers measured “biological aging,” a composite assessment of physiological changes and dysregulation across multiple organ systems. Unlike chronological age, biological age signals how well the body is functioning and can reveal who is likely to remain healthy and who faces elevated risk for disease and disability.
Two people who are both 65 years old can have very different biological ages: one may show physiological indicators typical of a younger person, while another may display signs of accelerated aging.
“Biological age gives us a clearer picture of health than chronological age,” said USC University Professor Eileen Crimmins, the study’s senior author. “It helps us understand who is likely to stay healthy longer and who may be at higher risk for disease and disability.”
A Widening Divide
Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the authors compared adults aged 50 to 79 across two periods: 1988–1994 and 2015–2018. They found that biological aging slowed for people at all education levels, but the slowdown was substantially larger for those with more schooling.
In the earlier period, the average biological age difference between adults with less than a high school education and those with a college degree was approximately one year. By 2015–2018, that difference had grown to nearly two years, indicating an expanding gap in physiological health across education groups.
“This means that people with more education have slower biological aging than everyone else,” said Mateo Farina, assistant professor of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin and the study’s first author. “The improvements we see in population health are not being shared equally.”
Scholars have been concerned about growing health inequality since the 1990s. This analysis is among the first to show that increased educational disparities in physical health are mirrored by widening differences in biological age, which may foreshadow unequal trends in disability and lifespan.
Why Education Matters
Education shapes many life circumstances that influence health: the types of employment available, income level, neighborhood conditions, access to quality health care, and exposure to stress. Higher educational attainment is also associated with healthier behaviors, including lower smoking rates and more regular physical activity.
The study tested whether changes in smoking, obesity, or medication use could explain the widening gap in biological aging. Those factors did not fully account for the trend. Instead, the researchers conclude that differences directly tied to education — such as lifelong access to resources, opportunities, and safer environments — are central contributors.
“Education shapes opportunities and risks throughout life,” Crimmins explained. “It’s a powerful social determinant of health, and it is leaving a mark on how fast or slow our bodies age.”
The implications extend beyond individual outcomes. If educational inequality persists, future cohorts of older adults with lower schooling may face shorter lives and longer periods of poor health, increasing demands on families, communities, and health systems.
“This isn’t just a matter of individual choice; it’s a social issue,” Farina said. “If we want to reduce health disparities, we need to think about education as a public health investment.”
About this education and biological aging research news
Author: Elizabeth Newcomb
Source: USC
Contact: Elizabeth Newcomb – USC
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access. “Increasing Educational Inequality in Biological Aging Among U.S. Adults Aged 50–79 From 1988–1994 to 2015–2018” by Eileen Crimmins et al., published in Demography. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00703370-12175545
Abstract
Increasing Educational Inequality in Biological Aging Among U.S. Adults Aged 50–79 From 1988–1994 to 2015–2018
Educational inequality in health has been growing in the United States across many outcomes, including disability, multimorbidity, self-rated health, and mortality. This study analyzed NHANES data for adults aged 50–79 to examine changes in biological aging across education groups over a roughly 25-year interval.
The researchers found that biological aging slowed within each education group, but the slowdown was greatest among those with the highest education levels, producing an increased gap over time. Specifically, the difference in biological age between adults with 0–11 years of schooling and those with 16 or more years grew from about one year in 1988–1994 to nearly two years in 2015–2018.
Changes in smoking, obesity, or medication use did not explain the growing inequality. Overall, the findings point to a widening disparity in physiological dysregulation by education among older U.S. adults, with likely consequences for future patterns of morbidity, disability, and mortality.