Reuters – Lisa Rapaport
“Teens with chronic health problems are less likely to complete high school or college or find high-paying jobs as adults, particularly if they suffered from mental illness, a review of previous research suggests. Researchers analyzed 27 studies on the impact of adolescent health on education and employment in adulthood and found teens with psychiatric problems were more than twice as likely to drop out of high school than their healthy peers. Mentally ill teens were also 50 percent more likely to be unemployed as adults, the analysis found. “Our research suggests health conditions are associated with a number of detrimental factors including missed school, social exclusion and risky behaviors, all of which contribute to poor outcomes,” study co-author Leonardo Bevilacqua, a researcher at the UCL Institute of Child Health in the U.K., said by email. “The striking thing is the magnitude of the impact that mental health conditions have on educational and employment outcomes.” Globally, one in four people will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives, according to the World Health Organization. Around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions.”(more)