Mental Health Problems in Adolescence and Educational Attainment: Sibling Comparisons from Norway

Miriam Evensen, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Torkild Hovde Lyngstad, University of Oslo
Ole Melkevik, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Arnstein Mykletun, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

The role of adolescent physical and mental health as a determinant of educational attainment and later life chances are increasingly being acknowledged in the social sciences. Using data from a population-wide Norwegian health survey linked to administrative registries, this study investigates the effects of internalizing problems and externalizing behavior during adolescence on educational attainment in young adulthood (N=8,355). Our results show a persistent negative relationship between externalizing behavior and educational outcomes, but for internalizing problems there is a conditional weak positive relationship. Controlling for family fixed effects, the relationship remains. This indicates that the relationship between adolescent mental health and adult educational attainment is not confounded by stable family background characteristics shared by siblings.