Schooling and frailty among seniors

What accounts for the correlations between schooling and frailty among seniors? Do the correlations differ among women, men, blacks and whites? Data from the 1986 wave of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) are analyzed to answer these questions as well as related ones pertaining to the roles of self-selection bias, self-efficacy, risk preference and time preference in explaining the correlations. The correlations between disability and schooling for women were strong after accounting for self-selection bias. The male schooling and exercise correlations were strong after accounting for self-selection, self-efficacy and preferences. Univariate differences in frailty measures between blacks and whites appear to be due to socioeconomic status rather than genetics. No race differences were observed in the correlations between schooling and frailty. The results provide additional evidence that education itself, rather than simply self-efficacy or time or risk preference, acts as preventive medicine.