Association between Mental Health and Educational Attainment in India: Variations across Gender and Income Gradient

Forum Shah, Presidency University
Zakir Husain, Presidency University
Soumitra Datta, Tata Medical Center

Nearly one in eight persons are affected by mental disorders globally with adverse consequences for education. Studies, mainly from developed countries, reveal a negative association of mental ill health and educational attainment. Literature also shows that prevalence of mental disorder is high amongst low-income groups and females. This study extends findings from developed countries to India, a fast-growing economy with high incidence of mental ill health, social stigma, low awareness, and poor infrastructure for treating mental ill-health. It examines the association between ‘mental disorder’ and ‘mental illnesses’—treated as distinct categories—and educational attainment in India, focusing on how the intensity of these associations varies across economic quintiles and by gender. Using data from 76th round of National Sample Survey and employing ordered logit models, we find that those with mental disabilities face greatest educational disadvantages, with probability of being illiterate at 0.7121 (95% CI: 0.7059-0.7183), followed by those with mental illnesses at 0.4825 (95% CI: 0.4756-0.4895). Further, economic status significantly moderates these effects, and gender disparities persist, particularly among those with mental illnesses. It emphasizes importance of designing policies addressing mental health and socio-economic inequalities simultaneously to improve educational outcomes in low-and-middle income countries.

Keywords: Human Capital, Education, and Work, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Econometrics , Health and Morbidity

See paper.