Examining the associations between educational experiences and mental health from childhood to adulthood

School-age children often experience stress and anxiety related to school work and exams, and the educational environment can be extremely competitive. These early school experiences could affect children’s mental health during childhood and in later life. Research has shown that children differ widely in their mental health outcomes and these differences can be largely explained by inherited differences in DNA sequence. It is important to take genetic differences between children into account when studying the links between educational experiences and adverse life outcomes.

I will investigate the links between educational experiences and mental health, while controlling for genetic confounding.

Understanding how stressful school experiences might affect mental health will be useful in designing interventions that make a real difference.