Do schooling reforms improve long-term health?

Madden, David

doi:10.15185/izawol.306

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Several studies find an association between higher education and better health (see Madden, 2016) and improved mental health (e.g. Bauldry, 2015;Chevalier and Feinstein, 2007).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscript Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does education protect against depression? Evidence from the Young Finns Study using Mendelian randomization

Viinikainen

Bryson

Böckerman

et al. 2018

Preventive Medicine

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Using participants (N = 1733) drawn from the nationally representative longitudinal Young Finns Study (YFS) we estimate the effect of education on depressive symptoms. In 2007, when the participants were between 30 and 45 years old, they reported their depressive symptoms using a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory. Education was measured using register information on the highest completed level of education in 2007, which was converted to years of education. To identify a causal relationship between education and depressive symptoms we use an instrumental variables approach (Mendelian randomization, MR) with a genetic risk score as an instrument for years of education. The genetic risk score was based on 74 genetic variants, which were associated with years of education in a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Because the genetic variants are randomly assigned at conception, they induce exogenous variation in years of education and thus identify a causal effect if the assumptions of the MR approach are met. In Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation years of education in 2007 were negatively associated with depressive symptoms in 2007 (b = -0.027, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = -0.040, -0.015). However, the results based on Mendelian randomization suggested that the effect is not causal (b = 0.017; 95% CI = -0.144, 0.178). This indicates that omitted variables correlated with education and depression may bias the linear regression coefficients and exogenous variation in education caused by differences in genetic make-up does not seem to protect against depressive symptoms.

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“…Several studies find an association between higher education and better health (see Madden, 2016) and improved mental health (e.g. Bauldry, 2015;Chevalier and Feinstein, 2007).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscript Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does education protect against depression? Evidence from the Young Finns Study using Mendelian randomization

Viinikainen

Bryson

Böckerman

et al. 2018

Preventive Medicine

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“…Other studies find associations between nutritional status, adiposity, and physical activity and rates of depression (Ngasa et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018;Jin et al, 2019). A large body of research has found that education (Bauldry, 2015;Madden, 2016) and religiosity (Wangmo and Teaster, 2010;Gearing and Alonzo, 2018) are protective against depression, which would suggest that monastics may be relatively buffered from experiencing depression. However, another study of Tibetan refugees living in India found lower prevalence of depression and importantly found no association between monastic status or educational variables and depression levels (Sachs et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Public Health Questionnaire for Estimating Depression Among Tibetan Buddhist Monastics

et al. 2021

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Background: Depression is the largest source of global medical disability, highlighting the importance of translating and validating depression screening instruments to improve our understanding of differences in the prevalence of depression in divergent cultures around the world. The aim of this study was to translate and evaluate a widely used depression screening and diagnostic instrument, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), for use with Tibetan populations. A secondary aim was to use the Tibetan-PHQ-9 (T-PHQ-9) to estimate the prevalence of depression symptoms in a population of Tibetan-speaking Buddhist monastic scholars engaging in a 6-year science curriculum in India, the Emory Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI).Methods: Three-hundred-eighty-four monastics (363 monks, 21 nuns) completed the T-PHQ-9. We computed measures of internal consistency and conducted factor analysis to evaluate scale performance. Following this, we evaluated the prevalence of depressive symptoms among the monastic population. We also conducted cognitive interviews with six monastics to explore their thought processes when completing the instrument and when thinking about depression symptoms.Results: The T-PHQ-9 had acceptable reliability and demonstrated a single-factor structure. While having low energy was the most commonly endorsed symptom, monastics did not have overall higher endorsement rates of other somatic symptoms when compared with endorsement rates of emotional symptoms. Over 10% of the monastics scored in the moderately severe to severe range and met criteria for major depressive disorder using standard diagnostic criteria cut-offs. First year monks had the highest mean score, and there was not a significant difference between monks and nuns. Cognitive interviews revealed some variation in the cognitive processes used to complete the instrument, particularly with symptoms related to energy and concentration.Conclusion: These preliminary findings indicate that the Tibetan PHQ-9 is a reliable instrument for assessing depressive symptoms, as evidenced by its ability to inform how symptoms are experienced, interpreted, and communicated among Buddhist monastics. Results from the cognitive interviews may be important for further refining the instrument.

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“…Monastics may experience lifestyle factors that put them more at risk for depression, a possibility that warrants further inquiry. Large bodies of research have found that education (48,49) and religiosity (50,51) are protective against depression, which would suggest that monastics may be relatively buffered from experiencing depression. However, another study of Tibetan refugees living in India found lower prevalence of depression and importantly found no association between monastic status or educational variables and depression levels (52).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of depression symptoms among Tibetan Buddhist monastic science scholars in India

Mascaro

Shellman

Samphel

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background Depression is the largest contributing factor to global disability, and the translation and validation of depression screening instruments is vital toward understanding the prevalence of depression symptoms around the world. The aim of this study was to translate a widely used depression screening instrument, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), for use with Tibetan populations, and to explore the prevalence of depression symptoms in a population of Tibetan-speaking Buddhist monastic science scholars. Methods A total of 384 monastics (363 monks, 21 nuns) completed the Tibetan PHQ-9. We computed measures of internal consistency and conducted factor analysis to evaluate scale performance, and describe the prevalence of depression symptoms among the monastic population and subgroups. Results The Tibetan PHQ-9 had acceptable reliability and demonstrated a single-factor structure. While having low energy was the most commonly endorsed symptom, monastics did not have overall higher rates of other somatic symptoms. Over 10% of the monastics scored in the moderately severe to severe range, using standard diagnostic criteria cut-offs. First year monks had the highest mean score, and there was not a significant difference between monks and nuns. Conclusion These preliminary findings indicate that the Tibetan PHQ-9 is a reliable instrument for exploring and assessing depression symptoms and that it will be useful toward examining how symptoms are experience, interpreted, and communicated among Buddhist monastics.

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Do schooling reforms improve long-term health?

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

Does education protect against depression? Evidence from the Young Finns Study using Mendelian randomization

Does education protect against depression? Evidence from the Young Finns Study using Mendelian randomization

Mixed-Method Evaluation of the Public Health Questionnaire for Estimating Depression Among Tibetan Buddhist Monastics

Prevalence of depression symptoms among Tibetan Buddhist monastic science scholars in India

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