Mental health improves after transition from comprehensive school to vocational education or employment in England: A national cohort study.

Abstract

Underpinned by stage-environment fit and job demands-resources theories, this study examined how adolescents' anxiety, depressive symptoms, and positive functioning developed as they transferred from comprehensive school to further education, employment or training, or became NEET (not in education, employment, or training), at age 16 years, in the longitudinal English national cohort study Next Steps (N = 13,342). Controlling for childhood achievement, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender, we found that NEET adolescents had the largest losses in mental health. This pattern was similar to adolescents staying on at school who had increased anxiety and depression, and decreased positive functioning, after transition. In comparison, adolescents transferring to full-time work, apprenticeships, or vocational college experienced gains in mental health.

Developmental trajectories of emotional disengagement from schoolwork and their longitudinal associations in England

“…Interestingly, even the stable disengaged students had very similar life satisfaction to those who were stable engaged , indicating that despite their prior differences in wellbeing, and their different uptake of education and employment, they evaluated their lives as being just as good in young adulthood. Possibly, their greater uptake of vocational pathways acted as a protective process, by which their mental health improved (Symonds et al ., ).…”

“…Two factors that emerged in prior exploratory factor analysis of the LSYPE general health questionnaire (GHQ) data (Symonds et al ., ) indicated how psychologically well participants were. The first measured subjective ill‐being with items regarding how much have you been feeling unhappy and depressed recently, how much have you been feeling reasonably happy recently (reversed), and how much have you been losing confidence in yourself recently .…”

“…Only the Finnish study extended to young adulthood, where emotionally disengaged school students were, in the future, more likely to attend vocational education and less likely to go to university (Tuominen‐Soini & Salmela‐Aro, ). However, taking a vocational route after compulsory schooling has been associated with improved mental health in England (Symonds et al ., ), raising the question of whether emotional disengagement with schooling can associate with positive outcomes later in the life course. In comparison, several studies have examined the longitudinal associations of emotional engagement with schooling, finding that it consistently predicts greater academic and occupational attainment in young adulthood and adulthood in Australia and England (Schoon, ; Duckworth & Schoon, ; Abbott‐Chapman et al ., ).…”

Gender differences in depression in representative national samples: Meta-analyses of diagnoses and symptoms.

“…Sample = sample name (not all samples had a name); Measure = depression symptom measure (the version of each measure- including number of items, language, and response scale- varied for each sample); d = uncorrected effect size; NM = n males; NF = n females; Year = year of data collection; Age = age or age range (in years); E = ethnicity (only applies to U.S. samples): 1 = mixed, 2 = > 85% Caucasian, 3 = > 85% African American, 4 = > 85% Asian American, 5 = >85% Hispanic; F = focus of article: 1 = gender, 2 = depression, 3 = other; * = received additional data from author; BDI = Beck Depression Inventory (Beck et al, 1961, 1996); CDI = Children’s Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1985); MDI = Major Depression Inventory (Bech et al, 2001); DTS = Depressive Tendencies Scale (Alsaker et al, 1991); HDL-D = Health and Daily Living Form- Depression Scale (Moos et al, 1985); CES-D = Center for Epidemiological Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977); EURO-D (Prince et al, 1999); MHI-D = Mental Health Inventory- Depression Items (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992); RADS = Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (Reynolds, 1986); SCL-D = Symptom Checklist-90- Depression items (Derogatis et al, 1973); SMFQ = Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (Angold et al, 1995); DASS-D = Depression Anxiety Stress Scales- Depression Subscale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995); PHQ-9 = Patient Health Questionnaire- 9 (Kroenke et al, 2001); DEPS = Depression Scale (Salokangas et al, 1995); HADS-D = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale- Depression subscale (Zigmond & Snaith, 1983); GDS = Geriatric Depression Scale (Yesavage et al, 1982); ADRS = Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (Revah-Levy et al, 2007); GHQ-D = General Health Questionnaire-Depression items (Symonds et al., 2016). …”

Conditions and strategies high school students living in lodgings experience as important and helpful for their well-being

“…Transitions to new schools are considered a stressful event (Barber & Olsen, 2004), and this transition may be related to changes in health and well-being among adolescents (Seidman & Allen, 1994; Symonds, Dietrich, Chow, & Salmela-Aro, 2016). Changes in the adolescents’ environment include such experiences as lessened contact with close friends (Darmody, 2008), changes in the structure of schooldays, downsized contact with teachers (Darmody, 2008; Pereira & Pooley, 2007), reduced support structures (Smyth, McCoy, & Darmody, 2004) and increased academic demands (Myklebust, 2002; Pereira & Pooley, 2007).…”