Mental health and school dropout across educational levels and genders: a 4.8-year follow-up study.

Line Bilgrav,Berit Nielsen,Charlotte Overgaard,Cathrine F. Hjorth,Louise Sjørslev Frandsen,Christian Torp-Pedersen,Henrik Bøggild

doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3622-8

Line Bilgrav, Berit Nielsen + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-3622-8

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Abstract

BackgroundEducation is a key determinant of future employment and income prospects of young people. Poor mental health is common among young people and is related to risk of dropping out of school (dropout). Educational level and gender might play a role in the association, which remains to be studied.MethodsMental health was measured in 3146 Danish inhabitants aged 16–29 years using the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey and examined across genders and educational levels. For students, educational level at baseline was used; for young people who were not enrolled in school at baseline (non-students), the highest achieved educational level was used. The risk of dropout in students was investigated in administrative registers over a 4.8–year period (1st March 2010–31th December 2014). Odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for mental health and in relation to dropout in logistic regression models, adjusting for age, gender, educational level, parental education, parental income and ethnicity.ResultsPoor mental health was present in 24 % (n = 753) of the participants, 29 % (n = 468) in females and 19 % (n = 285) in males (p < 0.0001). The prevalence differed from 19 to 39 % across educational levels (p < 0.0001). Females had a statistically significantly higher adjusted risk of poor mental health than males (OR = 1.8, CI = 1.5–2.2). Among the students the lowest risk was found at the elementary level (OR = 1.3, CI = 0.8–2.3), while students in higher education had a statistically significantly higher risk (OR = 1.9, CI = 1.2–2.9). The lowest-educated non-students had the highest OR of poor mental health (OR = 3.3, CI = 2.1–5.4). Dropout occurred in 8 % (n = 124) of the students. Poor mental health was associated to dropout in vocational (OR = 1.8, CI = 1.0–3.2) and higher education (OR = 2.0, CI = 1.0–4.2). For males in higher education, poor mental health was a predictor of dropout (OR = 5.2, CI = 1.6–17.3), which was not seen females in higher education (OR = 1.2, CI = 0.5–3.1).ConclusionsPoor mental health was significantly associated to dropout among students in vocational and higher education. Males in higher education had five times the risk of dropout when reporting poor mental health, while no such association was found for females.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3622-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Education is a key determinant of future employment and income prospects of young people
Poor mental health is often considered as associated to dropout in lower educational programmes [2], but associations between mental health and dropout appear in higher education as well [21, 22]
Among the students who dropped out 32 % reported poor mental health prior to their dropout

Summary

Introduction

Education is a key determinant of future employment and income prospects of young people. In the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 20 % of young people end their education pathway before reaching upper secondary level, with potential negative consequences for both the individual and society [1,2,3]. This means that one in five students have a higher risk of facing unemployment, poverty, increased mortality and morbidity compared with their cohorts who complete their education [2, 4,5,6]. The finding can be informative in future development of targeted prevention and treatment interventions

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