Educational attainment | Intergenerational | Depressive disorders | Young adult | Ritsher et al. [48] (Good quality)a | Parents’ depression was not a significant predictor of their children’s educational attainment after controlling for parental SES (f ratio [F] = 0, p = 0.97) |
Any common mental health problemb | Adolescence | Ensminger et al. [36] (Fair quality) | Mothers’ distress during either their children’s childhood or adolescence did not significantly increase the odds of secondary school drop out in either sons (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.72, 2.06, p = 0.458) or daughters (OR: 0.94, 95% CI: 0.55, 1.63, p = 0.823) when controlling for maternal educational attainment. Mothers’ distress during their children’s childhood and adolescence significantly increased the odds of secondary school drop out in sons (OR: 2.29, 95% CI: 1.20, 4.37, p = 0.012) but not in daughters (OR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.50, 2.49, p = 0.782) when controlling for maternal educational attainment. There was a significant interaction between maternal distress and poverty: maternal distress at only one time point, when combined with poverty, did significantly increase the odds of school drop out in sons only (OR: 3.07, 95% CI: 1.02, 9.22, p = 0.046). |
Depressive and Anxiety disorders | Childhood/Adolescence | Evans et al. [37] (Fair quality) | From ages 7–16, parental mental health (composite score measured 1–2 years after birth) was associated with a slightly slower rate of change in maths attainment (b=-0.004, 95% CI: -0.008, -0.00, p = 0.036). An increase in mental health symptoms (by 1-unit) was associated with a decrease in maths attainment improvement per year by − 0.004 levels. At age 11, parental mental health did not predict maths attainment (b=-0.019, 95% CI: -0.037, 0.000, p = 0.053). (Controlled for: Parental education, IQ, Working memory, at home teaching, involvement and interaction of parent, sex). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Johnston et al. [43] (Fair quality) | Worse mental health in mothers predicted reduced chances of their children gaining a degree by age 30 (b: -0.014, SE: 0.005, p < 0.01). However, when controlling for child mental health at age 10, mental health of mothers did not predict reduced chances of the children gaining a degree by age 30 (b = -0.007, SE: 0.005, p > 0.05). Children’s mental health mediated the effect of their mothers’ mental health and their own educational attainment. |
Depressive disorders | Adolescence | Psychogiou et al. [47] (Fair quality) | More severe depression in mothers was significantly associated with lower academic attainment in their children at age 16, through indirect associations via negative mother-child relationships (b:-0.01. SE:0.002, p < 0.001) and prior educational attainment (b:-0.004, SE: 0.001, p < 0.01). More severe depression in fathers was significantly associated with lower academic attainment in their children at age 16, through indirect associations via negative father-child relationships (b: 0.008, SE: 0.003, p < 0.01). |
Any common mental health problem | Adolescence/adult | Slominski et al. [51] (Fair quality) | There was no direct association between mothers’ mental health and their children’s educational attainment in adulthood (b: 0.00, p > 0.05). However, mothers’ mental health was significantly associated with their children’s academic competence in adolescence (b: 0.20, p < 0.05) and mental health at age 18 (b: 0.22, p < 0.01). These child variables significantly predict educational attainment (academic competence b: 0.54, p < 0.001, mental health b: 0.18, p < 0.05). |
Intragenerational | Any common mental health problem | Adult | Isohanni et al. [40] (Good quality) | People with non-psychotic disorders had increased odds of attaining basic (versus secondary or tertiary) education, whether with onset before age 22 (OR:3.2, 95% CI: 2.1, 4.7, p < 0.0001) or at age 23 or older (OR: 3.1, 95% CI: 1.9–5.3, p < 0.0001). Fewer people with age of onset before 22 attained tertiary education (4%), while more with age of onset at 23 or older attained tertiary education (18%). |
Any common mental health problem | Childhood/Adolescence | John et al. [41] (Good quality) | There was an association between having a recorded mental health disorder and absenteeism (OR 2·9, 95% CI 2·8–2·9), and of the 3.7% of pupils who had been excluded once, 20.8% were reported to have a mental disorder. Pupils with depression had slightly higher odds of being absent from school. However, there was no significant association between anxiety and absenteeism. |
Any common mental health problem | Adolescence | Johnson et al. [42] (Good quality) | Controlling for comorbid mental health problems, parental SES, parental psychopathology, child’s age, child’s gender and child’s intelligence quotient, a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder was associated with a reduced risk of dropping out of secondary school (OR: 0.21, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.97, p = 0.039). A diagnosis of an anxiety disorder was not significantly associated with a failure to continue education beyond secondary school (OR: 1.59, 95% CI: 0.58, 4.42, p = 0.371). Controlling for comorbid mental health problems, parental SES, parental psychopathology, child’s age, child’s gender and child’s intelligence quotient, a diagnosis of depression was associated with a reduced risk of dropping out of secondary school (OR: 0.23, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.82, p = 0.028). A diagnosis of depression was not significantly associated with a failure to continue education beyond secondary school (OR: 1.16, 95% CI: 0.43, 3.12, p = 0.769). |
Symptoms of Depressive and anxiety disorders | Adolescence | Meibner et al. [45] (Good quality) | There was no significant association between individuals with ‘internalised’ mental health problems (MHP), lower levels of educational attainment (r= -0.01, p = 0.912), failure to achieve expected level of education (r = 0.09, p = 0.062), or drop out from vocational/academic training (r = 0.09, p = 0.054). |
Depressive disorders | Young adult | Ritsher et al. [48] (Good quality)a | Depression was not a significant predictor of educational attainment (F = 0.0, p = 0.98) after controlling for parental SES. |
Any common mental health problem | Young adult/adulthood | Christensen et al. [33] (Fair quality) | Individuals 16–24 years: Individuals with poor mental health were less likely to progress from basic education to short education (men: unadjusted HR: 0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.62–0.85; women: unadjusted HR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.79–0.96). Short education to medium/long education: Women (aged 16–24 years) with poor mental health were less likely to progress from short education to medium/long education (unadjusted HR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.62–0.90). Men with poor mental health were not significantly less likely to progress from short education to medium/long education (HR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.61–1.17). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Coryell et al. [32] (Fair quality) | Adults with depression did not have significantly different odds of improving their educational attainment compared with controls (OR: 0.83, 95% 0.51, 1.35, p = 0.46). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Johnston et al. [43] (Fair quality) | Poor childhood mental health significantly predicted reduced likelihood of getting a degree after controlling for maternal mental health, maternal education and parental social class (b: -0.023, SE: 0.005, p < 0.01) |
Any common mental health problem | Adolescence | Sellers et al. [50] (Fair quality) | In two different cohorts (ALSPAC and NCDS), children with mental health problems were less likely to go on to achieve a least five good exam passes than children without mental health problems (boys: NCDS: OR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.78, p = 0.003, ALSPAC: OR: 0.30, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.41, p < 0.001; girls: NCDS: OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.76, p = 0.010, ALSPAC: OR: 0.34, 95% CI: 0.23, 0.50, p < 0.001) (no parental SES adjustment). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Slominski et al. [51] (Fair quality) | Offspring mental health at age 18 was significantly associated with educational attainment at age 30 (b: 0.018, p < 0.05). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Abebe et al. [26] (Poor quality) | In people with disability, controlling for gender and parental levels of education, poor mental health increased the chances of low levels of educational attainment (b: 0.136, SE: 0.019, p < 0.0001). |
Any common mental health problem | Adolescence | Case et al. [31] (Poor quality) | Mental health or emotional problems at age 16 were associated with a reduced number of ‘O’ level passes when controlling for family income at age 16, prenatal smoking, height, physical impairments at age 7 and age 16, mental problems at age 7 (b:-0.637, SE: 0.123, p > 0.05). Mental health or emotional problems at age 7 were also associated with a reduced number of ‘O’ level passes when controlling for family income at age 16, prenatal smoking, height, physical impairments at age 7 and age 16 and mental impairments at age 16 (b: = -0.601, SE: 0.128, p > 0.05). |
Income | Intergenerational | Depressive disorders | Young adult | Ritsher et al. [48] (Good quality)a | Parents’ depression was not a significant predictor of their children’s income (F = 0.03, p = 0.87) after controlling for parental SES. |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Johnston et al. [43] (Fair quality) | Worse mental health in mothers predicted reduced household income for their children at age 30 (b:-0.036, SE: 0.008, p < 0.01). When controlling for child mental health at age 10, the association of mothers’ mental health with reduced income for their children at age 30 became weaker but remained significant (b:-0.021, SE: 0.008, p < 0.05). Child and maternal mental health interacted to predict offspring income. |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Eaton et al. [34] (Poor quality) | Parental depression did not predict personal income (b: -0.01, p > 0.05) when controlling for fathers’ job level or job percentile. |
Intragenerational | Depressive disorders | Young adult | Ritsher et al. [48] (Good quality)a | Depression was not a significant predictor of income after controlling for parental SES (F = 0.95, p = 0.33). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Coryell et al. [32] (Fair quality) | People with depression had significantly reduced odds of increasing their annual income over 5 years compared with controls (OR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.97, p = 0.03). People with depression did not have significantly different odds of decreasing their annual income over 5 years compared with controls (OR: 1.26, 95% CI: 0.69, 2.27, p = 0.45). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Elovainio et al. [35] (Fair quality) | Income in adulthood was predicted by depressive symptoms. Lower initial levels and faster decrease over time in depressive symptoms were associated with higher income in adulthood (controlling for parental/childhood SES). |
Anxiety disorders | Older adult | Groffen et al. [38] (Fair quality) | Older adults with a social anxiety disorder had increased odds of a decrease in income after adjusting for gender, age, educational attainment, baseline income and change in occupational status (OR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.15, 2.50, p < 0.008). Social anxiety disorder was related to a decrease in income regardless of educational attainment or income levels at baseline: these variables did not moderate the association (p = 0.68). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Johnston et al. [43] (Fair quality) | Childhood mental health does not predict adulthood income after controlling for maternal mental health, maternal education and parental social class (b:-0.010 SE: 0.008, p > 0.05). Adulthood mental health predicts adulthood income after controlling for maternal mental health, maternal education and parental social class (b:-0.083, SE: 0.008, p < 0.01). |
Any common mental health problem | Young adult | Sareen et al. [49] (Fair quality) | There were no significant relationships between baseline mental health problems and change in income status during the 3-year follow-up period (statistics not reported). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Eaton et al. [34] (Poor quality) | Depression had a small negative effect on income percentile at 10-year follow-up (b:−0.10, p < 0.01). |
Occupation | Intergenerational | Depressive disorders | Young adult | Ritsher et al. [48] (Good quality)a | Parents’ depression was not a significant predictor of their children’s occupation (F = 1.13, p = 0.29), after controlling for parental SES. |
Any common mental health problem | Adolescence/adult | Slominski et al. [51] (Fair quality) | There was no direct association between mothers’ mental health and their children’s occupational status in adulthood (b: 0.08, p > 0.05). However, mothers’ mental health was significantly associated with their children’s mental health in adolescence (b: 0.22, p < 0.01). This child variable significantly predicts occupational status (b: 0.19, 0 < 0.05). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Tolman et al. [52] (Fair quality) | Parents’ depression did not predict their children’s occupation (b: 0.00, p > 0.05) when controlling for fathers’ job level or job percentile. |
Intragenerational | Any common mental health problem | Adult | Butterworth et al. [30] (Good quality) | Men with poor mental health were significantly more likely to become unemployed (b: 0.21, SE: 0.04, p < 0.001), and be unemployed for longer (b: 0.14, SE: 0.04 p < 0.05) compared with men with better mental health. Women with poor mental health are significantly more likely to become unemployed (b: 0.14, SE: 0.03, p < 0.001), but were not more likely to be unemployed for longer (b: 0.04, SE: 0.03, p > 0.05) |
Depressive disorders | Young adult | Ritsher et al. [48] (Good quality)a | Depression was not a significant predictor of occupation after controlling for parental SES (F = 1.07, p = 0.30). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Amos et al. [27] (Fair quality) | People with treatment-resistant depression were 2.3 times more likely than employees without depressive disorders (HR: 2.29 95% CI: 1.44, 3.65, p < 0.001) to switch to COBRA status (changed occupational status with reduced hours) during follow-up. There was significant difference between cohorts for employment termination (results not shown). People with treatment-resistant depression were 1.4 times more likely than employees without depressive disorders (HR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.11, 1.69, p = 0.004) to either switch to COBRA status or terminate employment. |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Aro et al. [28] (Fair quality) | Men and women with major affective disorder had a 2.5–3.9 times and 2.8–4.2 times higher risk, respectively, of becoming unemployed than the general population. |
Any common mental health problem | Young adult/adulthood | Christensen et al. [33] (Fair quality) | Individuals in employment who experience poor mental health were more likely to become unemployed than those with good mental health (adjusted for education level and long-term illness, men aged 25–44 HR:3.74, 95% CI: 2.65–3.86, women aged 25–44: 2.79, 95% CI: 2.48–3.14, men aged 45–59 HR: 3.32, 95% CI: 2.83, 3.89, women aged 45–59 HR: 3.13, 95% CI: 2.72–3.61). Individuals who are not employed with poor mental health were less likely to become employed (adjusted for education level, long term illness, smoking behaviour, alcohol consumption, BMI, physical activity, men aged 25–44 HR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.44–0.72, women aged 25–44 HR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.39–0.58, men aged 45–59 HR: 0.50, 95% CI:0.38–0.67, women aged 45–59 HR: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.32, 0.59). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Coryell et al. [32] (Fair quality) | People with depression had significantly reduced odds of being employed in the previous year compared with controls (OR: 0.57, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.84, p = 0.004). People with depression had significantly reduced odds of improving their occupation over their lifetime best in the previous 5 years compared with controls (prevalence ratio [PR]: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.29, 0.69, p < 0.0001). People with depression had significantly increased odds of decreasing their occupational status from their lifetime best in the previous 5 years compared with controls (OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.31, 2.73, p = 0.001). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Elovainio et al. [35] (Fair quality) | Occupational status in adulthood was predicted by depressive symptoms. Lower initial levels and faster decrease over time in depressive symptoms were associated with higher occupational status in adulthood (controlling for parental/childhood SES). |
Any common mental health problem | Adolescence/Adult | Halonen et al. [39] (Fair quality) | Symptoms of mental health problems were not associated with increased odds of becoming employed at a different age, controlling for parental education and household income, compared with age > 24: being age 19–23: OR: 1.01 95% CI: 0.84, 1.23, p = 0.919), being age < 18: OR: 0.76 95% CI: 0.61, 0.95, p = 0.015) Symptoms of mental health problems were also not associated with a specific occupational class obtained during first employment. Low occupational class compared with intermediate: OR: 0.95 95% CI: 0.74, 1.22, p = 0.688); non-specified compared with intermediate: OR: 0.93 95% CI: 0.73, 1.20, p = 0.567). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Slominski et al. [51] (Fair quality) | Offspring mental health at age 18 significantly predicted occupational status at age 30 (b: 0.19, p < 0.05). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Tolman et al. [52] (Fair quality) | Symptoms of social anxiety disorder in the preceding month significantly predicted the number of months worked (b:-0.114 SE: 0.054, p < 0.05). Symptoms of depressive disorder in the preceding month did not significantly predict the number of months worked (b:-0.012 SE: 0.031, p > 0.05). |
Any common mental health problem | Adult | Abebe et al. [26] (Poor quality) | In people with a physical disability, controlling for gender and parental education, poor mental health increased the chances of unemployment (b: 0.067, SE: 0.007, p < 0.0001). |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Eaton et al. [34] (Poor quality) | Depression at baseline did not predict job percentile at 10-year follow-up (b = 0.05, p > 0.05, data not shown) |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Landstedt et al. [44] (poor quality) | Depressive symptoms did not predict employment trajectories after controlling for occupational status. Men: ‘medium’c education into stable employment: OR: 0.44 95% CI: 0.18, 1.10, p = 0.075; ‘short’ education into stable employment OR: 0.85 95% CI: 0.38, 1.90, p = 0.692; continuously unstable situation: OR: 2.20 95% CI: 0.90, 5.46, p = 0.086. Women: ‘short’ education into stable employment OR: 1.69 95% CI: 0.66, 4.38, p = 0.277; continuously unstable situation: OR: 1.92 95% CI: 0.64, 5.80, p = 0.246. |
Depressive disorders | Adult | Prause et al. [46] (poor quality) | More severe depression was not associated with decreased odds of employment 2 years later in those who were unemployed at baseline (OR: 1.04, p > 0.05), and in those who were underemployed at baseline (OR: 1.04, p > 0.05). The gap between employment rates of men and women did however decrease with increasing symptoms of depression. |
Social mobility | Intragenerational | Any common mental health problem | Adult | Birtchnell [29] (Poor quality) | People with depression showed significantly less upward social mobility (change in social class from parents) than people without depression in classes IV and V. |