Approved Research

Understanding the causal relationship between education and mental health

Lay summary

Mental health issues are one of the main causes of the overall disease burden, accounting for 21% of years lived with disability worldwide. About 3-4% of people worldwide suffer from anxiety and depression at any given time and lost productivity due to anxiety and depression costs the global economy $1 trillion a year. There are robust associations between higher educational attainment and better mental health, and education is viewed as a fundamental cause of health disparities. Policies to increase educational attainment may therefore equalize opportunities and reduce health inequalities. However, credibly identifying the true causal relationship is difficult because of other "third" factors correlated with education and mental health (e.g., health endowments) and reverse causality. This project attempts to understand the causal relationship between education and mental health by triangulating evidence from two different research designs.

Educational attainment is viewed by some as a fundamental cause of health disparities because education embodies an array of resources that protect health, no matter what mechanisms are relevant at any given time. For example, education confers important skills that help individuals utilize health information, affects future income, and mediates access to risky or safe jobs; relatedly, school environments influence the composition of students' social networks and the social capital they have access to long after graduating. Policies to improve educational attainment may thus improve public health.