Educational level, attention problems, and externalizing behaviour in adolescence and early adulthood: the role of social causation and health-related selection —the TRAILS study

AbstractSocial causation and health-related selection may contribute to educational differences in adolescents ’ attention problems and externalizing behaviour. The social causation hypothesis posits that the social environment influences adolescents’ mental health. Conversely, the health-related selection hypothesis proposes that poor mental health predicts lower educational attainment. From past studie s it is unclear which of these mechanisms predominates, as attention problems and externalizing behaviour have the potential to interfere with educational attainment, but may also be affected by differences in the educational context. Furthermore, educational gradients in mental health may reflect t he impact of ‘third variables’ already present in childhood, such as parental socioeconomic status (SES), and IQ. We investigated both hypotheses in relation to educational differences in externalizing behaviour and attention problems throughout adolescence and young adulthood. We used data from a Dutch cohort (TRAILS Study;n = 2229), including five measurements of educational level, externalizing behaviour, and attention problems from around age 14–26 years. First, we evaluated the directionality in longitudinal associations between education, externalizing behaviour, and attention problems with and without adju sting for individual differences using fixed effects. Second, we assessed the role of IQ and parental SES in relation to attention problems, externalizing ...
Source: European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research