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Cited by 187Health disparities and outcomesPsychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionResilience and Mental Health

Education and mental health: Do psychosocial resources matter?

Open access
Niemeyer, Helen, Bieda, Angela, Michalak, Johannes, Schneider, Silvia, Margraf, Juergen·2019·SSM - Population Health
DOI 10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100392PMC PMC6447754
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Abstract

Prevalence rates for mental health problems are higher when an individual's socioeconomic status (SES) is low, but the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. We investigated associations between education as indicator for SES and depressive symptoms as well as positive mental health (PMH). Moreover, we hypothesized that low education is associated with a lack of psychosocial resources and more daily hassles, which in turn mediate the relationships between education and mental health. In a German representative sample (N = 7937), we cross-sectionally first examined whether a person's educational level was associated with depressive symptoms and PMH. Educational level was defined as the highest academic qualification achieved. Second, we investigated whether also sense of control, resilience, delay of gratification, cultural activity and daily hassles followed gradients along the educational level. Third, we investigated whether they mediated the relationship between education and mental health. Results showed that depressive symptoms measured by items from the DASS-42 depression subscale were more prevalent for persons with a low educational level, PMH operationalized by the Positive Mental Health Scale was equally distributed, and all psychosocial characteristics followed the gradient of educational level. In addition, the group with a high school diploma was particularly burdened. Structural equation modeling indicated that the associations between education and mental health were mediated by all psychosocial characteristics and daily hassles, apart from the delay of gratification. In the group with the lowest educational level the model fit indices for depressive symptoms and PMH were acceptable (χ2 = 10007.243 (627), CFI = 0.869, RMSEA = 0.04 (90% CI [0.04, 0.04], SRMR = 0.05; and χ2 = 12779.968 (741), CFI = 0.86, RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI [0.05, 0.05], SRMR = 0.05), respectively). The effect size Pm refers to the proportion of the total effect that is mediated by one or more variables (“M”), and the effect size of all indirect effects in the model for depressive symptoms was Pm = .80 and for PMH it was Pm = .68. The results support our hypotheses that low education is associated with less psychosocial resources, which in turn serve together with daily hassles as pathways between education and depressive symptoms as well as PMH. Building on these findings, longitudinal studies are necessary to investigate causality.

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  • Individuals with lower educational attainment may lack coping resources, making them more susceptible to the negative psychological effects of uncertainty.

    “In contrast, individuals with lower educational attainment may lack these coping resources, making them more susceptible to the negative psychological effects of uncertainty [114].”

    From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [114]

    The Discussion reports that people with lower education had fewer resources, including sense of control and resilience, to cope with adversity, and suggests this may increase their risk of depressive symptoms. The Measures section includes an item about experiencing life as unpredictable, but the paper does not establish that lower education specifically increases susceptibility to the psychological effects of uncertainty. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Hammen C. Watkins E. Clinical Psychology, a modular course: Depression 2nd ed. 2008 Taylor & Francis Hove
  2. Lai J.C.L. Mak A.J.H. Resilience moderates the impact of daily hassles on positive well-being in Chinese undergraduates Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies 10 2009 151 168
  3. Marmot M. Status syndrome 2004 Bloomsbury London

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Authors
Niemeyer, H., Bieda, A., Michalak, J., Schneider, S., & Margraf, J.
Affiliations
  • Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
  • Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
  • Witten/Herdecke University (DE)
Corresponding author
Niemeyer, Helen
ORCID
Venue
SSM - Population Health
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-04
Volume
7
Pages
100392
ISSN
2352-8273 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100392
PMC
PMC6447754
OpenAlex
W2935412525
Cited by
187
References
81
Citations by year
2026: 23 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 4
FWCI
12.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2020-12-01)
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • SSM - Population Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Refubium (Universitätsbibliothek der Freien Universität Berlin) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Universitätsbibliothek der FU Berlin Hochschulschriftenstelle u. Dokumentenserver
Funders
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
Keywords
education, socioeconomic status, depressive symptoms, positive mental health, psychosocial resources, daily hassles, perceived control, resilience, delay of gratification, cultural activities, mediation, low educational attainment, mental health disparities, Germany, DASS-42, gender differences, age differences

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