Crawford PhD Conference 2014

1. Mental Health and Disengaged Youth
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig
November 19, 2014
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

2. Background
I Poor mental health can lead to poor economic outcomes (and
vice versa)
I Dockery (2006); Frijters et al. (2010); Johnston et al. (2011)
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

3. Background
I Poor mental health can lead to poor economic outcomes (and
vice versa)
I Dockery (2006); Frijters et al. (2010); Johnston et al. (2011)
I Mental health literature

4. nds signi

5. cant persistence
I Hauck & Rice (2004)

6. nd persistence is higher among
disadvantaged youth
I Roy & Schurer (2013)

7. nd similar results in Australia
I Hughes & Cohen (2009)
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

8. Background
I Poor mental health can lead to poor economic outcomes (and
vice versa)
I Dockery (2006); Frijters et al. (2010); Johnston et al. (2011)
I Mental health literature

9. nds signi

10. cant persistence
I Hauck & Rice (2004)

11. nd persistence is higher among
disadvantaged youth
I Roy & Schurer (2013)

12. nd similar results in Australia
I Hughes & Cohen (2009)
I How persistent is economic inactivity?
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

13. Background
I Poor mental health can lead to poor economic outcomes (and
vice versa)
I Dockery (2006); Frijters et al. (2010); Johnston et al. (2011)
I Mental health literature

14. nds signi

15. cant persistence
I Hauck & Rice (2004)

16. nd persistence is higher among
disadvantaged youth
I Roy & Schurer (2013)

17. nd similar results in Australia
I Hughes & Cohen (2009)
I How persistent is economic inactivity?
I Is the correlation between mental health and economic
inactivity stronger for disadvantaged youth?
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

18. Contribution
I Youth in Focus data matches survey with administrative data
on welfare receipt.
I Descriptive analysis of mental health, economic activity, and
disadvantage.
I Disadvantaged youth experience poorer mental health and
greater economic inactivity.
I Mental health is both persistent and mobile. No eect of
disadvantage.
I Youth disengagement both persistent and mobile. Persistence
is higher for disadvantaged youth.
I Poor mental health is correlated with inactivity, but only for
disadvantaged youth.
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

19. Youth in Focus Project
I Data is based on a birth cohort of Australians born between 1
October 1987 and 31 March 1988
I Longitudinal survey of parents and youth at ages 18 and 20
I Matched administrative data gives us family income support
history over 12 years (ages 6-18)
I Covers youth from a range of backgrounds:
I no disadvantage (no income support history);
I mild disadvantage (less than 6 years on income support); and
I intensive disadvantage (more than 6 years on income support)
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

20. Key variables in each wave
I Mental health is measured using a person's average response
to a subset of SF-12 questions. Following OECD (2012), we
categorise this index as follows
I Severe mental health : 5% lowest average responses
I Moderate mental health : next 15% lowest scores
I No mental health issues : the remaining 80% of respondents
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

21. Key variables in each wave
I Mental health is measured using a person's average response
to a subset of SF-12 questions. Following OECD (2012), we
categorise this index as follows
I Severe mental health : 5% lowest average responses
I Moderate mental health : next 15% lowest scores
I No mental health issues : the remaining 80% of respondents
I Economic activity is derived from self-reported education and
employment status.
I Fully engaged (FT study; FT work; or PT study and PT work)
I Partly engaged (PT study only; or PT work only)
I Fully disengaged/inactive (none of the above)
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

22. Key variables in each wave
I Mental health is measured using a person's average response
to a subset of SF-12 questions. Following OECD (2012), we
categorise this index as follows
I Severe mental health : 5% lowest average responses
I Moderate mental health : next 15% lowest scores
I No mental health issues : the remaining 80% of respondents
I Economic activity is derived from self-reported education and
employment status.
I Fully engaged (FT study; FT work; or PT study and PT work)
I Partly engaged (PT study only; or PT work only)
I Fully disengaged/inactive (none of the above)
I Additional controls: demographics; living arrangement at 14;
parent highest education; general or physical health
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

23. Incidence of mental health
Family income support history
Mental Health No Mild Intensive
Category at 18 exposure exposure exposure Total
Severe 0:03 0:06 0:07 0:05
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Mild 0:15 0:15 0:20 0:17
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
None 0:82 0:79 0:73 0:78
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Prop. of Row 0:41 0:31 0:28 1:00
Entries in table are weighted column proportions (their standard errors are in
parentheses).
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

24. Persistence of mental health
Mental Health Mental Health Category at 18
Category at 20 Severe Mild None Total
Severe 0:26 0:10 0:03 0:05
(0:01) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Mild 0:34 0:34 0:11 0:16
(0:01) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
None 0:40 0:57 0:86 0:79
(0:01) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Prop. of Row 0:05 0:16 0:79 1:00
Entries in table are weighted column proportions (their standard errors are in
parentheses).
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

25. Ordered Probit Marginal Eects
Figure: Probability of [Mental Health Category] at 20
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

26. Incidence of economic inactivity
Family income support history
Engagement No Mild Intensive
at 18 exposure exposure exposure Total
Fully engaged 0:84 0:79 0:67 0:78
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Partly engaged 0:11 0:13 0:16 0:13
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Fully disengaged 0:04 0:08 0:17 0:08
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Prop. of Row 0:41 0:31 0:28 1:00
Entries in table are weighted column proportions (their standard errors are in
parentheses).
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

27. Persistence of economic inactivity
Engagement at 18
Engagement Fully Partly Fully
at 20 engaged engaged disengaged Total
Fully engaged 0:86 0:66 0:51 0:81
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Partly engaged 0:09 0:22 0:23 0:12
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Fully disengaged 0:05 0:12 0:26 0:08
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Prop. of Row 0:80 0:13 0:08 1:00
Entries in table are weighted column proportions (their standard errors are in
parentheses).
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

28. Ordered Probit Marginal Eects
Figure: Probability of FT/PT (dis)engagement at 20
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

29. Engagement at 18 by Mental Health Category at 18
Relative Mental Health Category at 18
Engagement No mental Moderate Severe
at 18 health issues mental health mental health
Fully engaged 0:79 0:75 0:64
(0:00) (0:00) (0:01)
Partly engaged 0:13 0:14 0:16
(0:00) (0:00) (0:00)
Fully disengaged 0:08 0:11 0:20
(0:00) (0:00) (0:01)
Prop. of Row 0:78 0:17 0:05
Entries in table are weighted column proportions (their standard errors are in
parentheses).
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

30. Ordered Probit Marginal Eects
Figure: Probability of FT/PT (dis)engagement at 18
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

31. Engagement at 20 by changes in Mental Health Category
Figure: Proportion in full-time engagement at 20
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

32. Ordered Probit Marginal Eects
Figure: Probability of full-time engagement at 20
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

33. Mental health and economic inactivity
I For disadvantaged youth (mild or intensive IS)
I Worse mental health = Lower engagement
I Greater disadvantage = Larger marginal eects
I Consistent with expectations
I For youth with no IS history
I Worse mental health = Higher engagement
I Contrary to expectations
I For youth with no mental health problems
I Greater disadvantage = Lower engagement
I Consistent with expectations
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth

34. Conclusion
I Addressing mental health today has implications for mental
health and economic outcomes both now and in the future.
I This is particularly true for disadvantaged youth
I This suggests that mental health may be an important
channel for intergenerational disadvantage.
Paul Amores and Robert Breunig Mental Health and Disengaged Youth