Do employment factors reduce the effect of low education on mental health? A causal mediation analysis using a national panel study

A Milner; T Blakely; G Disney; AM Kavanagh; AD LaMontagne; Z Aitken

Journal article

Do employment factors reduce the effect of low education on mental health? A causal mediation analysis using a national panel study

A Milner, T Blakely, G Disney, AM Kavanagh, AD LaMontagne, Z Aitken

International Journal of Epidemiology | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyy128

Abstract

Background: Young people with low education have worse health than those with higher education. This paper examined the extent to which employment and income reduced the adverse effects of low education on mental health among people aged 20–35 years. Methods: We used causal mediation analyses to estimate the total causal effect (TCE) of low education on mental health and to decompose the effect into the natural direct effect (NDE) and the natural indirect effect (NIE) through two mediators examined sequentially: employment (labour-force participation/occupation skill level) and income. Three waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey (2012–14) were used to..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

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Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

Support by a Victorian Health and Medical Research Fellowship (A.M.). Additional support was provided by an Australian Rotary Health Mental Health grant (#RM 31643 to A.D.L. and A.M.) and National Health and Medical Research Council Partnership Project (APP1151843 to A.M., A.K., and A.D.L).