Ann John, Muhammad Rahman, Mike Kerr, Robert Potter, Jonathan Kennedy, Sinead Brophy – Swansea University
The Challenge
Little is known about how mental health in primary school affects later adolescent (teenage) mental health. This study examined the effect of education in primary school on the development of mental health conditions.
The Research
This study explored the mental health of all children in Wales between 1999 and 2014. Researchers used data from GP surgeries and hospitals and linked it with education records. This data was then held in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. SAIL, based at Swansea University, is a world class system that brings together different sources of data in a secure, trusted and confidential way – removing the individual’s identity.
The Results
Health records of 652 903 children (319 839 boys, 307 584 girls) were linked with educational records. The research revealed that:
Between the ages of 12 and 21 years, 33, 498 children (5·1%) developed depression.
15, 946 (2·4%) self-harmed.
2,183 (0·3%) had eating disorders.
10, 458 boys (3·2%) and 23 040 girls (7·5%) had diagnosed depression during their childhood.
10, 550 boys (3·3%) and 21 278 girls (6·9%) were given an antidepressant.
Children who developed depression were more likely than those not developing depression to have passed key stage 1 (age 7 years) but not key stage 2 (age 11), indicating that they were declining in their primary school education.
On the other hand, those who self-harmed 4, 736 boys (1·5%), 11, 210 girls (3·6%) were achieving as well as those who did not self-harm in primary school but show marked decline in secondary school.
In children with an eating disorder, only girls were associated with development of the disorder, and educational achievement was not significantly different from those without the disorder. At key stage 3 (age 14) children with eating disorders achieved well in secondary school.
The Impact
This study revealed that the pathway of achievement in primary school is very different for children who develop depression, self-harm, or eating disorders.
- Those who developed depression in late adolescence (aged 17-19) were deprived children whose achievements where shown to be declining during their primary school education and continued to decline in secondary school. Therefore, depression was associated with prolonged decline in school.
- Academic decline occurs very close to the period of self-harm (aged 14-15) suggesting that academic decline could be a ‘symptom’ of another problem in those who self-harm.
- However, eating disorders were not associated with education or deprivation in primary school but associated with high achievement in secondary school.
This research, which was funded by the National Centre for Population Health & Well Being Research, provides valuable insights and suggests that declining in academic attainment may be an indicator that interventions aimed at emotion and social development could improve and reduce the development of future mental health problems. Helping children improve their academic attainment and supporting them at an early stage may directly help protect against future depression.
For further information visit: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673616322371
