Released this January, the first phase of the Center’s Education and Health Initiative highlights the growing importance of educational attainment to lifelong health. Given how strong an indicator education is for one’s health, it is important to look for ways of improving educational attainment, as this may be an effective way of improving health outcomes and reducing health costs.

While it is generally agreed-upon that early interventions provide some of the greatest impact on long-term educational success, it is also important to look at creative intervention opportunities throughout a student’s educational life-course. Here at VCU, Dr. Briana Mezuk, Assistant Professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, has studied the impact of high school debate participation on student achievement and found that students involved in competitive policy debate saw greater achievement in terms of high school completion, academic achievement, and college readiness.

Using data from a 10-year study of the Chicago Debate League, Dr. Mezuk found that 86% of debaters who graduated from high school attended college (72% at 4-year institutions) as compared to 78% of comparable high school graduates (61% at 4-year institutions). Of those who entered college, 31% of debaters graduated within 5 years, as compared to 20% of peers. Given that adults who receive some college education have lower rates of fair or poor health status, diabetes, and premature mortality than those with a high school education or less, interventions like these, which are shown to improve college attendance, could be an effective means of reducing disease burden, lengthening life, and lowering health care spending.

Dr. Mezuk will present her findings at the upcoming American Educational Research Association in Philadelphia where she aims to outline the support for debate as an educational intervention, particularly for students in under-served districts. Work like Dr. Mezuk’s, which investigates the effectiveness and underscores the importance of educational interventions, is important in working toward the goal of “moving the needle” and improving the health of Americans. Dr. Mezuk began this research while a fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program at the University of Michigan. This study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Learn more about Dr. Mezuk’s work here.