No evidence for a protective effect of education on mental health

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) 2019-11, Vol.241, p.112584-112584, Article 112584
• Main Authors: Dahmann, Sarah C., Schnitzlein, Daniel D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Compulsory schooling Reform; Mental health; Returns to education
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112584

This paper analyzes whether education has a protective effect on mental health. To estimate causal effects, we employ an instrumental variable (IV) technique that exploits a reform extending compulsory schooling by one year implemented between 1949 and 1969 in West Germany. We complement analyses on the Mental Component Summary (MCS) score as a generic measure of overall mental health with an MCS-based indicator for risk of developing symptoms of mental health disorder and a continuous measure of subjective well-being. Results support existing evidence of a positive relationship between completed years of secondary schooling and mental health in standard OLS estimations. In contrast, the IV estimations reveal no such causal protective effect and negative effects cannot be ruled out. •We study whether education has a causal protective effect on mental health.•We use a compulsory schooling reform in Germany as a source of exogenous variation.•We measure mental health by the MCS score and subjective well-being from SOEP data.•We find no evidence for a causal protective effect.•Our results are robust to various specifications.