Mental-health and educational achievement: the link between poor mental-health and upper secondary school completion and grades

Abstract

Background: Education profoundly affects adult socioeconomic status, so it is important to ensure that all children have the capability and opportunity to achieve educational goals.

Aims: The study aimed to examine the relationship between mental-health during adolescence and upper secondary school completion and grades, which has received comparatively little research attention to date.

Method: Longitudinal administrative and registered data were used to analyse the relationship between school achievement and prescriptions of psycholeptic and psycho-analeptic drugs. The sample consisted of all children born in Sweden in 1990 (n = 109 223), who were followed from birth to age 20. Logistic and OLS regressions were performed separately for boys and girls, controlling for birth health and family characteristics.

Results: A negative relationship between mental-health problems and educational outcomes was found; this result was almost independent of the controls. Only minor differences between the sexes were detected.

Conclusions: Poor mental-health during childhood correlated negatively with educational attainment. Given the strong link between educational success and adult life, more resources are needed to support children with mental-health problems.

Keywords:

• Mental-health
• education
• completion
• grades
• upper
• secondary
• school
• Sweden

Declaration of interest

The Umeå SIMSAM Lab data infrastructure used in this study was developed with support from the Swedish Research Council and strategic funds from Umeå University.

Notes

¹ The prevalence of drug treatment in terms of number of patients per 1000 inhabitants in Sweden for the year 2014: neuroleptics (N05A) 22.49, sedatives, anxiolytics (N05B) 58.12, hypnotics and sedatives (N05C) 83.17, antidepressants (N06) 90.92, centrally acting sympathomimetic (N06BA) 8.72, 2015, Läkemedel – statistik för år 2014 (Pharmaceuticals – Statistics for 2014).