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Re-examining the relationship between education and adult mental health in the UK: A research note

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  • Amin, Vikesh
  • Fletcher, Jason M
  • Lu, Qiongshi
  • Song, Jie

Abstract

Previous studies using variation in education arising from compulsory schooling laws have found no causal effects of education on mental health in the UK. We re-examine the relationship between education and mental health in the UK by taking a different approach: sibling fixed-effects with controls for polygenic scores (summary measures of genetic predisposition) for educational attainment and adult depressive symptoms. We find that higher educational attainment is associated with better adult mental health, that sibling controls reduce these associations by ∼40–70% but important associations remain and find evidence for non-monotonic effects. We also find suggestive evidence that education partially “rescues” genetic predictors of poor mental health.

Suggested Citation

  • Amin, Vikesh & Fletcher, Jason M & Lu, Qiongshi & Song, Jie, 2023. "Re-examining the relationship between education and adult mental health in the UK: A research note," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:93:y:2023:i:c:s0272775723000018
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102354
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Neil M. Davies & Matt Dickson & George Davey Smith & Gerard J. van den Berg & Frank Windmeijer, 2018. "The causal effects of education on health outcomes in the UK Biobank," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(2), pages 117-125, February.
    2. Jason M. Fletcher, 2008. "Adolescent depression: diagnosis, treatment, and educational attainment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(11), pages 1215-1235.
    3. Cook, C. Justin & Fletcher, Jason M., 2015. "Can education rescue genetic liability for cognitive decline?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 159-170.
    4. Janke, Katharina & Johnston, David W. & Propper, Carol & Shields, Michael A., 2020. "The causal effect of education on chronic health conditions in the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. Jiang, Wei & Lu, Yi & Xie, Huihua, 2020. "Education and mental health: Evidence and mechanisms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 407-437.
    6. Avendano, Mauricio & de Coulon, Augustin & Nafilyan, Vahé, 2020. "Does longer compulsory schooling affect mental health? Evidence from a British reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    7. Jason M. Fletcher, 2008. "Adolescent depression: diagnosis, treatment, and educational attainment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(11), pages 1215-1235, November.
    8. Dahmann, Sarah C. & Schnitzlein, Daniel D., 2019. "No evidence for a protective effect of education on mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    9. Crespo, Laura & López-Noval, Borja & Mira, Pedro, 2014. "Compulsory schooling, education, depression and memory: New evidence from SHARELIFE," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 36-46.
    10. Fletcher, Jason M. & Lehrer, Steven F., 2011. "Genetic lotteries within families," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 647-659, July.
    11. Fletcher, Jason & Topping, Michael & Zheng, Fengyi & Lu, Qiongshi, 2021. "The effects of education on cognition in older age: Evidence from genotyped Siblings," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    12. Janne Mikkonen & Hanna Remes & Heta Moustgaard & Pekka Martikainen, 2020. "Evaluating the Role of Parental Education and Adolescent Health Problems in Educational Attainment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(6), pages 2245-2267, December.
    13. Mazzonna, Fabrizio, 2014. "The long lasting effects of education on old age health: Evidence of gender differences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 129-138.
    14. Jason Boardman & Benjamin Domingue & Casey Blalock & Brett Haberstick & Kathleen Harris & Matthew McQueen, 2014. "Is the Gene-Environment Interaction Paradigm Relevant to Genome-Wide Studies? The Case of Education and Body Mass Index," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(1), pages 119-139, February.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mental health; Education; Siblings fixed-effects; UK;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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