对于以上原因的疑问，美国芝加哥的伊利诺斯大学的研究者们还无确切的答案。有迹象显示未得到较好教育的白人从1999年始平均寿命下降了4年，这与受到较好教育的白人差别很大。没有高中毕业的白种女性在1990-2008年间，平均寿命比以前降低了5岁。俄罗斯白种男性的平均寿命在前苏联解体后降低了7年。

http://www.lbnelert.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/haelth.jpgLIFE SPAN DROPS FOR WHITES: Is health care to blame? Troubling new research shows that life expectancy for the less-educated white Americans is down four years since 1999, reversing longstanding theories that most educated whites were making the biggest strides in life span. The reasons for the dip are unclear, though researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago speculate rising obesity, increased smoking rates among less educated white women and a lack of health insurance for the least educated Americans may provide some explanations. White women who hadn’t graduated from high school lost five years of life between 1990 and 2008, according the lead investigator on the study—a decline that rivals the seven-year drop for Russian men in the years after the Soviet Union collapsed.