Disentangling potential causal effects of educational duration on well-being, and mental and physical health outcomes

Margot van de Weijer*, Perline Demange, Dirk Pelt, Meike Bartels, Michel Nivard

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Extensive research has focused on the potential benefits of education on various mental and physical health outcomes. However, whether the associations reflect a causal effect is harder to establish. To examine associations between educational duration and specific aspects of well-being, anxiety and mood disorders, and cardiovascular health in UK Biobank data, we apply four different causal inference methods (a natural policy experiment leveraging the minimum school leaving age, a sibling-control design, mendelian randomization (MR), and within-family MR), and assess if the methods converge on the same conclusion. A comparison of results across the four methods reveals that associations between educational duration and these outcomes appears predominantly to be the result of confounding or bias rather than a true causal effect of education on well-being and health outcomes. Whereas we do consistently find no associations between educational duration and happiness, family satisfaction, work satisfaction, meaning in life, depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder, we do not find consistent significant associations across all methods for the other phenotypes (health satisfaction, financial satisfaction, friendship satisfaction, neuroticism, and cardiovascular outcomes). We discuss inconsistencies in results across methods considering their respective limitations and biases, and additionally discuss the generalizability of our findings in light of the sample and phenotype limitations. Overall, this study strengthens the idea that triangulation across different methods is necessary to enhance our understanding of the causal consequences of educational duration.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1403-1418
Number of pages16
JournalPsychological Medicine
Volume54
Issue number7
Early online date15 Nov 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2024

Funding

Margot van de Weijer, Dirk Pelt, and Meike Bartels are supported by the European Research Council Consolidator Grant (ERC-2017-COG 771057 WELL-BEING PI Bartels). Margot van de Weijer is funded by the European Union (ERC, UNRAVEL-CAUSALITY, project nr. 101076686). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Perline Demange is supported by the grant 531003014 from The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW). Michel Nivard is supported by R01MH120219, ZonMW grants 849200011919 and 531003014 from The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, a VENI grant awarded by NWO (VI.Veni.191G.030), and is a Jacobs Foundation Research Fellow.

FundersFunder number
UNRAVEL-CAUSALITY101076686, 531003014
European Commission
European Research CouncilERC-2017-COG 771057
ZonMwR01MH120219, 849200011919
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk OnderzoekVI.Veni.191G.030
Jacobs Foundation

    Keywords

    • Education
    • Well-being
    • Health
    • Causality
    • Within-family
    • Mendelian randomization

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