Mental well-being in 15-19-year-old adolescents and poor school connectedness, dropout, and NEET status: a prospective cohort study.

Abstract

Completing upper-secondary education is a key milestone with long-term implications for health and socioeconomic stability. We examined how adolescent mental well-being associated with school connectedness and prospective outcomes including school dropout and NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) status. The study included 67,684 students from the Danish National Youth Cohort 2014 (mean age: 17.8). Based on this cohort, four mental well-being groups were identified in earlier work using latent class analysis: Good (32%), Moderate (35.1%), Poor (19.5%), and Very Poor (13.5%). Using nationwide registers, we estimated associations between mental well-being groups and non-completion of any upper-secondary education within five years using logistic regression. We additionally examined one-year school dropout and NEET status at five- and ten-year follow-up. To contextualise analyses, associations between mental well-being groups and poor school connectedness were estimated using Poisson regression. Students in the Very poor mental well-being group had higher prevalences of reporting poor school connectedness. Compared to students with Good mental well-being, those with Very poor mental well-being had markedly higher odds across all prospective outcomes. For five-year non-completion, the odds ratio was 2.94 (95% CI: 2.58, 3.34). Students with Poor and Moderate mental well-being also showed elevated odds, reflecting a stepwise increase in odds across mental well-being groups. Adolescent mental well-being presents as a risk factor for adverse educational and occupational outcomes extending into early adulthood. These findings underscore the importance of supporting mental well-being in adolescents and prioritising timely interventions before disengagement from education and the labour market. The study was funded by the Tryg Foundation. The authors are solely responsible for the content, which does not necessarily reflect the official views of the Tryg Foundation.