The influence of mental health on educational attainment in adolescence

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Growing evidence of the prevalence of poor mental health among children and young people in the UK has led to this issue becoming a key policy priority. Recent Government reports and policy programmes have particularly emphasised the role of schools and colleges, as universal services, in supporting children and young people's mental health and improving early identification of and intervention for pupils with particular mental health needs.While such reports have presented an economic case for investment in early prevention of mental ill health, emphasising the costs of long term treatment for persistent poor mental health in adult life, this economic argument neglects the impact that early life mental health potentially has on other early life outcomes fundamental in determining life chances, such as educational attainment. There are a number of mechanisms through which poor mental health could lead to poorer educational outcomes, including through school absence and dropout, through behavioural and attentional difficulties and through lowered aspirations and school connectedness. Alternatively, the association between mental health and educational outcomes might not be direct and causal, but incorporate the influence of other social, biological and/or demographic confounding factors. Existing evidence suggests that poor mental health in childhood and early adolescence is associated with poorer educational and employment outcomes in later life. However, a robust, longitudinal, up-to-date and nationally representative study is needed to unequivocally establish whether a causal relationships exists. Robust evidence of a causal relationship between poor mental health and lower academic attainment could be hugely influential in further encouraging education policymakers and schools to invest in mental health. This research will investigate the influence of mental health and well-being throughout early adolescence on educational attainment at Key Stage 4, using longitudinal data from the Youth Panel of Understanding Society, the UK Household Panel Study (UKHLS), which has been linked to the National Pupil Database. It will consider how far parental characteristics, the home learning environment, individual demographics, in-school behaviours and prior attainment mediate the association between attainment and mental health and well-being.The questions to be answered are as follows:i. To what extent are family socioeconomic and demographic circumstances associated with educational attainment throughout adolescence?ii. To what extent is the home learning environment associated with educational attainment throughout adolescence?iii. How far does psychological mental health and well-being explain educational attainment?iv. What factors mediate the association between mental health and educational attainment?v. Are these associations consistent across different socioeconomic and demographic groups, geographical areas, or school types?