Abstract: Nowadays,various “myths” about depression are constructed by media,including a wide-spread view that depression is seen as a kind of “disease of genius” and intellectuals are more likely to get depressed;however,there are few empirical researches on that relationship.Based on the data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS),this article examines the effect of education on adults' depressive emotions by controlling family backgrounds and individuals' health endowments,and the results are listed as below.First,education posts a significant impact on depression,and this relationship is not simply linear and there is an upper limit of “health benefits”.The results show a U-shaped effect on depression level as education level increases,which declines first and then rises.The threshold is whether an individual accepts tertiary education.Those adults with the degree of master or above are more likely to get depressed.Second,education has an “age effect” on depression and shows distinct modes and features within individual's life cycle.With the increase of age,the depression level of those intellectuals will get lower.Third,further investigation shows that education can decrease individual's depression level by improving one's health and cognitive ability and promoting one's social-economic status.In China,the “socialization function” plays a dominant role,which means that education improves the mental health level mainly by improving one's cognitive and self-management ability.All these conclusions imply that besides regular school education,the government can also cooperate with enterprises,public institutions and social organizations to strengthen the publicity and education on health for citizens so as to improve people's health cognitive ability and develop good exercise habits.

Key words: education, depression, higher educational level, health benefits