Good Grades, Healthy Hearts

The better educated you are, the healthier your kids maybe -- but researchers don't know why.

By Camille Chatterjee, published on January 01, 2000 - last reviewed on July 01, 2005

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The better educated you are, the better your kids' health may be, though the reason isn't quite clear.

Dawn Wilson, Ph.D., a health psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, asked 77 teenagers to play a video game while she measured their resulting changes in blood pressure -- high blood pressure reactivity is a risk factor for heart disease. Of teens from poorer areas and Iow-income households, those whose parents were better educated displayed lower blood pressure reactivity.

Wilson isn't yet certain how education may protect children, though a study found that more learned parents are more likely to make themselves available for discussing life events than those with less schooling. In any case, she says, "the study reinforces that education is important."