A new report shows that schools with predominantly black student bodies routinely receive significantly less funding than their white counterparts. Does the poor education lead to mental health issues down the line? Researchers from the University of Warwick think so.
Previous investigations have led to the belief that individuals with a low standard of education are more likely to experience mental health problems. This has been attributed to the fact that people from lower socioeconomic classes often do not have access to the best standard of teaching, leading to poor emotional intelligence and problem solving skills.
Therefore, the scientists took into account factors such as wealth when conducting their study.
They also stated that a low standard of mental well-being did not necessarily indicate mental illness, but was closely linked.
Researchers observed the mental well-being of 17,030 participants using data from the Health Survey For England from 2010 and 2011. The individuals were ranked with regard to a scale of ‘feeling good and functioning well’, as they believed this indicated a good state of mental health.
They found that individuals with a stronger sense of psychological well-being were significantly more likely to be happy and contented throughout their lives.
According to reports, however, when this was measured alongside the standard of people’s education, it was found that this played no marked role in influencing a person’s mental health.
‘So if low educational attainment was strongly associated with mental illness, high educational attainment would be strongly connected to mental well-being. But that is not the case.’
She added that the planning of mental health programmes may have to change in light of this research, as local authorities and health boards will not necessarily need to consider education as a factor in treating patients.
What’s more, the investigation also looked at the mental wellbeing of people of different ethnicities, finding that Afro-Caribbean males in particular were largely happy and contented with their lives.