The Impacts of Transportation Sustainability on Higher Education in China

Improving transportation sustainability serves as a means of reducing the perceived and real distance, thereby contributing to the city and higher education development. In this paper, the complexity of transport sustainability is measured via four different dimensions: economy, society, environment and politics. The variables are designed by the four dimensions. The higher education development is measured via the ratio of higher education degree holders, reflecting the skilled work mobility. Over the last 30 years, university students moving to cities for study and work purposes have become an important part of rural–urban transition mobility. However, few studies have explored the impacts of transportation sustainability on higher education development in China. The economic, environmental, social and political dimensions in transportation sustainability can boost China’s higher education attainment in different ways. Against this background, this study, drawing on the panel data and employing the spatial multilevel model, investigated the impacts of transportation sustainability on higher education in China, adding new empirical evidence for China’s higher education development. A panel analysis revealed that the increase in transportation sustainability induces the growth of higher education. Moreover, higher education attainment showed significant spatial dependence at the county level and had significant spatial clustering of county-level higher education attainment across provinces. Furthermore, modeled test results showed that the spatial multilevel model was more suitable for our study than traditional regression models. By identifying transport sustainability variables that have an effect on higher education, this study is the first to uncover the complexity of transportation sustainability and contributes to the latest policy implications for promoting higher education attainment through sustainable transportation.

Disrupted daily routines mediate the socioeconomic gradient of depression amid public health crises: A repeated cross-sectional study

Objective: There is a socioeconomic gradient to depression risks, with more pronounced inequality amid macroenvironmental potential traumatic events. Between mid-2019 and mid-2020, the Hong Kong population experienced drastic societal changes, including the escalating civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the change of the socioeconomic gradient in depression and the potential intermediary role of daily routine disruptions. Method: We conducted repeated territory-wide telephone surveys in July 2019 and July 2020 with 1112 and 2034 population-representative Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong citizens above 15 years old, respectively. Stratified by year, we examined the association between socioeconomic indicators (education attainment, household income, employment status and marital status) and probable depression (nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9] ⩾ 10) using logistic regression. Differences in the socioeconomic gradient between 2019 and 2020 were tested. Finally, we performed a path analysis to test for the mediating role of daily routine disruptions. Results: Logistic regression showed that higher education attainment in 2019 and being married in 2020 were protective against probable depression. Interaction analysis showed that the inverse association of higher education attainment with probable depression attenuated in 2020 but that of being married increased. Path analysis showed that the mediated effects through daily routine disruptions accounted for 95.9% of the socioeconomic gradient of probable depression in 2020, compared with 13.1% in 2019. Conclusion: From July 2019 to July 2020, the mediating role of daily routine disruptions in the socioeconomic gradient of depression in Hong Kong increased. It is thus implied that infection control measures should consider the relevant potential mental health impacts accordingly.

Education Attainment, Intelligence and COVID-19: A Mendelian Randomization Study

Background: Evidence of socioeconomic inequality in COVID-19-related outcomes is emerging, with a higher risk of infection and mortality observed among individuals with lower education attainment. We aimed to evaluate the potential interventions against COVID-19 from the socioeconomic perspective, including improvement in education and intelligence. Methods: With a two-sample Mendelian randomization approach using summary statistics from the largest genome-wide association meta-analysis, univariable analysis was adopted to evaluate the total causal effects of genetically determined education attainment and intelligence on COVID-19 outcomes. Multivariable analysis was performed to dissect the potential mechanisms. Results: Genetic predisposition to higher education attainment by 1 SD (4.2 years) was independently associated with reduced risk of COVID-19 severity (OR = 0.508 [95% CI: 0.417–0.617]; p < 0.001). Genetically higher education attainment also lowered the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization (0.685 [0.593–0.791]; p < 0.001), but the association was attenuated after adjustment for beta estimates of intelligence in multivariable analysis. Genetically higher intelligence was associated with reduced risk of COVID-19 hospitalization (0.780 [0.655–0.930]; p = 0.006), with attenuation of association after adjustment for education attainment. Null association was observed for genetically determined education attainment and intelligence with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusion: Education may act independently and jointly with intelligence in improving the COVID-19 outcomes. Improving education may potentially alleviate the COVID-19-related health inequality.

Determinants of Household Savings: An Empirical Evidence from the OECD Member Countries

Using the data from the 36 OECD member countries over a time period of 1970-2017, we study variations in household saving rate across the countries through the lens of the socio-economic and -demographic shifts over time. In addition to traditional determinants of household saving such as life expectancy, education, average number of children born per woman over a lifetime, and household debts, we examined changes in the socio-economic and -demographic conditions that are conducive to the human capital value of female labor force and thus female employment opportunities. We have identified that the narrower is the gap between genders in higher education attainment and employment, the higher is the household saving rate. Our empirical findings also suggest that both giving childbirth at an old age and preferential income tax rates for households with children are negatively affecting the household saving rate.

Social class and sex differences in higher-education attainment among adults in Scotland since the 1960s

An important question about adult education is whether it compensates for or exacerbates initial inequality. The paper looks at this question in relation to higher education in Scotland, considering inequality with respect to sex and to social class. The data come from three cohorts followed from birth to 2011–12. The oldest is unique to Scotland, consisting of people born in 1936. The other two are the Scottish components of British cohorts who were born in 1958 and 1970. This range of time allows an investigation of the effects of half a century of higher-education expansion, drawing a distinction between all higher education and degree-level higher education. The conclusions are that the proportion of women who gained any higher-education qualification was lower than that of men in the 1936 cohort right up to age 75, was equal to men’s in the 1958 cohort up to age 54, and in the 1970 cohort was higher than men’s from the outset and moved increasingly ahead up to early middle age. For degrees, the female proportion converged with but did not overtake the male proportion. On social class, inequality for all higher education widened with age in the oldest cohort, did not change in the middle cohort, and narrowed with age in the youngest cohort. For degrees, inequality did not change across cohorts or across ages within cohort. Thus any widening of access by adults to higher education has depended mainly on levels below that of degrees.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Investigates the effects on learning in later life of half a century of higher-education expansion.</li><br /><li>Understanding inequality requires paying attention to the whole life-course.</li><br /><li>Between people born in 1936 and in 1970, women moved from being behind men in later life to being ahead.</li><br /><li>Social class inequality widened with age for people born in 1936, but narrowed with age for those born in 1970.</li></ul>

The Relationship between Higher Education and Women Empowerment in Pakistan

Women empowerment is one of the critical dimensions of a feminist perspective. In patriarchal societies, women are oppressed and suppressed; hence higher education is considered a remedy to equip them to deal with issues arising from undue oppression and suppression. This study aimed to find the relationship between the attainment of higher education among women and women empowerment. The study has been carried out in Central Punjab, Pakistan. The study was framed under a correlational research design. Data was collected from a sample of 200 respondents equally selected (50 from each) of four different universities, including the University of Gujrat, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, University of Minhaj, University of Lahore. A stratified random sampling technique has been utilized, whereby 200 samples were questioned through a structured questionnaire. The collected information was analyzed by using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings showed a strong correlation between the attainment of higher education and women empowerment. The correlation was determined among one independent variable (attainment of higher education) and four dependent variables, including the power of decision making, increased political participation, economic independence, respect, and self-esteem.All variables have been found significantly associated with each other, which provides evidence that higher education attainment leads to women empowerment. Based on the findings of the study, it is concluded that higher education plays a significant role in liberating women from oppression and suppression.

Causal effects of education on chronic kidney disease: a Mendelian randomization study

Background Poor socio-economic status, including low education attainment, has been reported in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. We aimed to investigate the causal effects of education attainment on the risk of CKD. Methods The study was an observational cohort study including Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. First, the clinical association between education attainment years as the exposure and prevalent CKD Stages 3–5 as the outcome was investigated by multivariable logistic regression in 308 741 individuals 40–69 years of age from the UK Biobank. MR analysis was performed with a previously reported genetic instrument from a genome-wide association meta-analysis of education attainment. Two-sample MR was performed with summary statistics for CKD in 567 460 individuals with European ancestry in the CKDGen genome-wide association meta-analysis. The findings were replicated by allele score–based MR in 321 260 individuals of white British ancestry in the UK Biobank with quality-controlled genetic data. Results Higher education attainment was significantly associated with lower adjusted odds for CKD in the clinical analysis {&gt;17 years versus &lt;16 years, adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.910 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.849–0.975]}. The causal estimates obtained by the inverse variance method in the two-sample MR indicated that higher genetically predicted education attainment causally reduced the risk of CKD [OR 0.934 (95% CI 0.873–0.999)]. Allele score–based MR also supported that higher education attainment was causally linked to a decreased risk of CKD [adjusted OR 0.944 (95% CI 0.922–0.966)]. Conclusion The study suggests that higher education attainment causally reduces the risk of CKD development in the general population.