Understanding the benefits of different types and timing of education for mental health: A sequence analysis approach

Anusha M Vable; Catherine D P Duarte; S Rae Wannier; Alec M Chan-Golston; Alison K Cohen; M Maria Glymour; Robert K Ream; Irene H Yen

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbab147

Understanding the benefits of different types and timing of education for mental health: A sequence analysis approach

J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2021 Aug 13;79(4):gbab147. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbab147. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Anusha M Vable¹, Catherine D P Duarte², S Rae Wannier³, Alec M Chan-Golston⁴, Alison K Cohen³, M Maria Glymour³, Robert K Ream⁵, Irene H Yen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
² Division of Epidemiology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
³ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
⁴ Department of Public Health, School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced, Merced, CA.
⁵ Graduate School of Education, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA.

Abstract

Objectives: Individuals increasingly experience delays or interruptions in schooling; we evaluate the association between these non-traditional education trajectories and mental health.

Methods: Using year-by-year education data for 7,501 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 participants, ages 14-48 (262,535 person-years of education data), we applied sequence analysis and a clustering algorithm to identify educational trajectory groups, incorporating both type and timing to credential. Linear regression models, adjusted for early-life confounders, evaluated relationships between educational trajectories and mental health component scores (MCS) from the 12-item short form instrument at age 50. We evaluated effect modification by race, gender, and race by gender.

Results: We identified 24 distinct educational trajectories based on highest credential and educational timing. Compared to high school (HS) diplomas, < HS (beta=-3.41, 95%CI:-4.74,-2.07) and general educational development credentials (GEDs) predicted poorer MCS (beta=-2.07,95%CI:-3.16,-0.98). The following educational trajectories predicted better MCS: some college immediately after High School (beta=1.52, 95%CI:0.68,2.37), Associate degrees after long interruptions (beta=1.73, 95%CI:0.27,3.19), and graduate school soon after Bachelor's completion (beta=1.13, 95%CI:0.21,2.06). Compared to White men, Black women especially benefited from educational credentials higher than HS in predicting MCS.

Conclusions: Both type and timing of educational credential predicted mental health. Black women's mental higher especially benefited from higher educational credentials.

Keywords: education; educational trajectories; health disparities; mental health; sequence analysis.

Grants and funding

R01 AG056360/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States