Mental Health and Education Decisions

Francesca Cornaglia, Elena Crivellaro and Sandra McNally

No 6452, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Mental health problems – and depression in particular – have been rising internationally. The link between poor mental health and poor educational outcomes is particularly interesting in the case of the UK which has a low international ranking both on measures of child wellbeing and the probability of early drop-out from the labour market and education. We study this issue using a large longitudinal study of a recent cohort of teenagers in England. We use the General Health Questionnaire to derive measures of poor mental health. We find a large negative association between mental health problems and educational outcomes – where we consider examination results before leaving compulsory education and the probability of being "not in education, employment or training" at a young age. The association is large even after including a very rich set of controls. Results are stronger for girls and also vary according to the different components of the mental health measure. We also explore the potential role of intermediary mechanisms (truancy and risky behaviors).

Keywords: mental health; educational attainment; drop-out (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 69 pages
Date: 2012-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published - published in: Labour Economics, 2015, Vol. 33, 1–12.

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Journal Article: Mental health and education decisions (2015)
Working Paper: Mental Health and Education Decisions (2012)
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