Educational quality may be a closer correlate of cardiometabolic health than educational attainment.

Educational quality may be a closer correlate of physical health than more commonly used measures of educational attainment (e.g., years in school). We examined whether a widely-used performance-based measure of educational quality is more closely associated with cardiometabolic health than educational attainment (highest level of education completed), and whether perceived control (smaller sample only), executive functioning (both samples), and health literacy (smaller sample only) link educational quality to cardiometabolic health. In two samples (N = 98 and N = 586) collected from different regions of the US, educational quality was associated with cardiometabolic health above and beyond educational attainment, other demographic factors (age, ethnoracial category, sex), and fluid intelligence. Counter to expectations, neither perceived control, executive function, nor health literacy significantly mediated the association between educational quality and cardiometabolic health. Findings add to the growing literature suggesting that current operationalizations of the construct of education likely underestimate the association between education and multiple forms of health. To the extent that educational programs may have been overlooked based on the apparent size of associations with outcomes, such actions may have been premature.

Helicopter Parenting, Authenticity, and Depressive Symptoms: A Mediation Model.

Helicopter parenting is an overinvolved, overcontrolling parenting style that likely interferes with children's healthy development of authenticity. Authenticity refers to self-awareness and a genuine expression of the self and is important for college students as they traverse the opportunities and challenges of emerging adulthood. Authenticity appears to be a protective characteristic and is negatively related to depressive symptoms. The authors proposed and tested a model in which helicopter parenting was related to depressive symptoms through authenticity. In the present investigation, college students (n = 286) completed self-report instruments assessing perceptions of helicopter parenting, current states of authenticity (self-alienation, authentic living, external influence), and depressive symptoms. Path analysis was conducted with AMOS, and the data fit the model well (χ2(1) = .580, p = .446, TLI = 1.103, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA = .000). Helicopter parenting was related to higher levels of self-alienation and external influence and lower levels of authentic living. Self-alienation and authentic living were related to depressive symptoms (external influence was not related to depressive symptoms). These findings demonstrate the importance of considering developmental predictors of authenticity and depression. Helicopter parenting is likely to inhibit authenticity in ways that may contribute to difficulties in emerging adulthood.