Adolescent Skills, Mental Health, and Early-Adult Educational and Labour-Market Outcomes

Habtamu Beshir (), Emla Fitzsimons (), Dominic Kelly () and Lindsey Macmillan ()
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Habtamu Beshir: UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Emla Fitzsimons: UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Dominic Kelly: UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies
Lindsey Macmillan: UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities

No 26-09, CEPEO Working Paper Series from UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities

Abstract: We examine how different dimensions of adolescent development---cognitive skills, socio-emotional functioning, and mental health---are associated with educational attainment and labour-market engagement at age 23. Using the Millennium Cohort Study, we show that these dimensions are linked to distinct outcomes in early adulthood. Attention difficulties are most strongly associated with lower educational attainment, while emotional, conduct, and peer difficulties are more closely related to weaker labour-market engagement and a higher likelihood of being not in education, employment, or training (NEET). Persistent behavioural and mental-health difficulties are particularly predictive of NEET status. We further document substantial socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment and labour-market engagement and assess the extent to which adolescent skills and mental health account for these disparities. Our findings show that different dimensions of adolescent development are associated with distinct pathways through education and into the labour market, while also contributing to persistent socioeconomic inequalities in early-adult outcomes.

Keywords: Adolescent skills; mental health; educational attainment; NEET; labour-market outcomes. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I24 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2026-10, Revised 2026-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lma and nep-neu
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https://repec-cepeo.ucl.ac.uk/cepeow/cepeowp26-09.pdf Initial version, 2026 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucl:cepeow:26-09

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