Sagatun Ase, Heyerdahl Sonja, Wentzel-Larsen Tore, Lien Lars
Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway, Oslo, Norway.
BMC Public Health. 2014 Jan 9;14:16. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-16.
School drop-out is a problem all over the world with adverse life-course consequences. The aim of this paper is to study how internalising and externalising problems in the 10th grade are associated with non-completion of upper secondary school, and to examine the mediating role of grade points in the 10th grade across general academic and vocational tracks in upper secondary school. We also study the impact of health behaviour.
Population-based health surveys were linked with Norwegian registries on education and sociodemographic factors (n = 10 931). Mental health was assessed by the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Logistic regression was used to analyse the relations between mental health and health behaviour in 10th grade and non-completion of upper secondary school. The mediating effect of grade points was studied by causal mediation analysis.
Adolescents not completing upper secondary school reported more externalising problems and girls more internalising problems in the 10th grade, after adjustments. Smoking and physical inactivity increased the odds of non-completion of upper secondary school. Causal mediation analyses showed that a reduction in externalising problems of 10 percentage points led to lower rates of non-completion of 4-5 percentage points, and about three-quarters of this total effect was mediated by grades. For internalising problems the total effect was significant only for girls (1 percentage point), and the mediated effect of grades was about 30%. The effect of mental health problems on school dropout was mainly the same in both vocational and general tracks.
Assuming a causal relationship from mental health problems to school performance, this study suggests that externalising problems impair educational attainment. A reduction of such problems may improve school performance, reduce school drop-out and reduce the adverse life-course consequences.
辍学是一个全球性问题,会对人生轨迹产生不良影响。本文旨在研究十年级时的内化问题和外化问题如何与未完成高中学业相关联,并检验十年级平均绩点在普通高中和职业高中不同轨道上的中介作用。我们还研究了健康行为的影响。
基于人群的健康调查与挪威教育及社会人口因素登记处的数据相链接(n = 10931)。通过自我报告的长处与困难问卷评估心理健康状况。采用逻辑回归分析十年级时心理健康和健康行为与未完成高中学业之间的关系。通过因果中介分析研究平均绩点的中介作用。
经调整后,未完成高中学业的青少年在十年级时报告的外化问题更多,女孩的内化问题更多。吸烟和缺乏身体活动增加了未完成高中学业的几率。因果中介分析表明,外化问题减少10个百分点会使未完成学业的比率降低4 - 5个百分点,且这一总效应的约四分之三是由成绩介导的。对于内化问题,总效应仅在女孩中显著(1个百分点),成绩的中介效应约为30%。心理健康问题对辍学的影响在职业和普通轨道上基本相同。
假设心理健康问题与学业成绩之间存在因果关系,本研究表明外化问题会损害教育成就。减少此类问题可能会提高学业成绩、降低辍学率并减少对人生轨迹的不良影响。