Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education

Piet Bracke; Elise Pattyn; Olaf von dem Knesebeck

doi:10.1111/1467-9566.12039

Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education

Standard

Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education. / Bracke, Piet; Pattyn, Elise; von dem Knesebeck, Olaf.

In: SOCIOL HEALTH ILL, Vol. 35, No. 8, 01.11.2013, p. 1242-59.

Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

Bracke, P, Pattyn, E & von dem Knesebeck, O 2013, 'Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education', SOCIOL HEALTH ILL, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 1242-59. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12039

APA

Bracke, P., Pattyn, E., & von dem Knesebeck, O. (2013). Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education. SOCIOL HEALTH ILL, 35(8), 1242-59. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12039

Vancouver

Bracke P, Pattyn E, von dem Knesebeck O. Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education. SOCIOL HEALTH ILL. 2013 Nov 1;35(8):1242-59. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12039

Bibtex

@article{28411562676749058da14ca51d73cd52,

title = "Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education",

abstract = "In general, well-educated people enjoy better mental health than those with less education. As a result, some wonder whether there are limits to the mental health benefits of education. Inspired by the literature on the expansion of tertiary education, this article explores marginal mental health returns to education and studies the mental health status of overeducated people. To enhance the validity of the findings we use two indicators of educational attainment - years of education and ISCED97 categories - and two objective indicators of overeducation (the realised matches method and the job analyst method) in a sample of the working population of 25 European countries (unweighted sample N = 19,089). Depression is measured using an eight-item version of the CES-D scale. We find diminishing mental health returns to education. In addition, overeducated people report more depression symptoms. Both findings hold irrespective of the indicators used. The results must be interpreted in the light of the enduring expansion of education, as our findings show that the discussion of the relevance of the human capital perspective, and the diploma disease view on the relationship between education and modern society, is not obsolete.",

author = "Piet Bracke and Elise Pattyn and {von dem Knesebeck}, Olaf",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2013 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness {\textcopyright} 2013 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

year = "2013",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/1467-9566.12039",

language = "English",

volume = "35",

pages = "1242--59",

journal = "SOCIOL HEALTH ILL",

issn = "0141-9889",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "8",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Overeducation and depressive symptoms: diminishing mental health returns to education

AU - Bracke, Piet

AU - Pattyn, Elise

AU - von dem Knesebeck, Olaf

PY - 2013/11/1

Y1 - 2013/11/1

N2 - In general, well-educated people enjoy better mental health than those with less education. As a result, some wonder whether there are limits to the mental health benefits of education. Inspired by the literature on the expansion of tertiary education, this article explores marginal mental health returns to education and studies the mental health status of overeducated people. To enhance the validity of the findings we use two indicators of educational attainment - years of education and ISCED97 categories - and two objective indicators of overeducation (the realised matches method and the job analyst method) in a sample of the working population of 25 European countries (unweighted sample N = 19,089). Depression is measured using an eight-item version of the CES-D scale. We find diminishing mental health returns to education. In addition, overeducated people report more depression symptoms. Both findings hold irrespective of the indicators used. The results must be interpreted in the light of the enduring expansion of education, as our findings show that the discussion of the relevance of the human capital perspective, and the diploma disease view on the relationship between education and modern society, is not obsolete.

AB - In general, well-educated people enjoy better mental health than those with less education. As a result, some wonder whether there are limits to the mental health benefits of education. Inspired by the literature on the expansion of tertiary education, this article explores marginal mental health returns to education and studies the mental health status of overeducated people. To enhance the validity of the findings we use two indicators of educational attainment - years of education and ISCED97 categories - and two objective indicators of overeducation (the realised matches method and the job analyst method) in a sample of the working population of 25 European countries (unweighted sample N = 19,089). Depression is measured using an eight-item version of the CES-D scale. We find diminishing mental health returns to education. In addition, overeducated people report more depression symptoms. Both findings hold irrespective of the indicators used. The results must be interpreted in the light of the enduring expansion of education, as our findings show that the discussion of the relevance of the human capital perspective, and the diploma disease view on the relationship between education and modern society, is not obsolete.

U2 - 10.1111/1467-9566.12039

DO - 10.1111/1467-9566.12039

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 23909439

VL - 35

SP - 1242

EP - 1259

JO - SOCIOL HEALTH ILL

JF - SOCIOL HEALTH ILL

SN - 0141-9889

IS - 8

ER -