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\f0\fs24 \cf2 (Image source: {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/21/health/a-troubling-trend-in-life-expectancy.html?ref=us"}}{\fldrslt
\cf3 \ul \ulc3 Health Affairs / New York Times}})\uc0\u8232 \u8232
\b BY STEVEN SPARKMAN \b0 \
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\b \cf2 ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY \b0 \uc0\u8232 \u8232 A worrying new study
on Americans\'92 life expectancy confirms what scientists have been saying for years
\'97 while overall life expectancy is going up, many Americans are being left behind.\u8232
\u8232 \b \'93Today\'92s children may be the first
in America\'92s history to have shorter lives than their parents.\'94
\b0 ({\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.fox17.com/"}}{\fldrslt \cf3 \ul \ulc3 Video via WZTV}})\uc0\u8232
\u8232 The study, first reported in the New York Times, says among white people without
a high school diploma life expectancy is actually going down.\u8232 \u8232 In the least-educated
group, life expectancy for white women declined by five years between 1990 and 2008. That\'92s
close to the drop Russian men saw after the fall of the Soviet Union. Life expectancy
for white men declined three years over the period. ({\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/09/21/health/a-troubling-trend-in-life-expectancy.html?ref=us"}}{\fldrslt
\cf3 \ul \ulc3 via New York Times}})\uc0\u8232 \u8232 White people in all categories can
still expect to live longer than black people, but black life expectancy is on the rise,
even in the least-educated group. So why the reversal for white people? {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK
"http://www.myfoxchicago.com/"}}{\fldrslt \cf3 \ul \ulc3 WFLD explains}}.\uc0\u8232
\u8232 \b \'93Some explanations include a spike in
prescription drug overdoses, higher rates of smoking and a steady increase of people
who lack health insurance.\'94 \b0 \uc0\u8232 \u8232 The changes are hitting
women harder than men. For one thing, women are smoking more while men are smoking less.
{\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/us/life-expectancy-for-less-educated-whites-in-us-is-shrinking.html?_r=1&hp"}}{\fldrslt \cf3 \ul \ulc3 The Times adds}} the new realities
of American work and family life could also be to blame.\uc0\u8232 \u8232
\b \'93Childbirth outside marriage has soared, increasing pressures on women who are more
likely to be single parents. \'85 The overwhelming majority of women now work, while fertility
has remained higher than in European countries. For women in low-wage jobs, which are often
less flexible, this could take a toll on health...\'94 \b0 \uc0\u8232 \u8232 As of 2006, 43 percent
of white men and women in the non-diploma group lacked health insurance, compounding
all of the health problems the group faces. But {\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/09/life-expectancy-shirnking-some-white-people/57106/"}}{\fldrslt
\cf3 \ul \ulc3 a writer for the Atlantic}} says there may be another explanation.\uc0\u8232
\u8232 \b \'93...the number of Americans without
a high school diploma has dropped dramatically since 1990, both shrinking the size of that
pool and also making it more likely that they will be disadvantaged in other ways.\'94
\b0 \uc0\u8232 \u8232 According to the Human Mortality Database run by the University of
California, Berkeley, the U.S. ranks dead last among developed countries for women\'92s
life expectancy.\ }