Chronic absences at school linked to poorer mental health in later life – ESRI

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Purple

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The Irish Times is reporting that according to the ERSI Chronic absences at school linked to poorer mental health in later life. What is actually being said is that there is a correlation between chronic absences at school and poorer mental health and educational outcomes in later life. I don't know why there's a report on what is blindingly obvious and I don't know why it is being misrepresented so as to suggest that absences from school are in any way the root cause of any of the issues highlighted.

This is akin to a report showing a correlation between people carrying umbrellas and the frequency and intensity of incidences of rain and suggesting that if fewer people carried umbrellas it would rain less.
 
There was an item on Newstalk with Claire Byrne this morning about "climate anxiety" among school pupils, which apparently has reached record levels.

No wonder some of them don't want to go to school with the catastrophizing of everything.

www.newstalk.com

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It appears anxiety and related issues among the young for all kinds of reasons are seeing a permanent increase.

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Howth Head said:
There was an item on Newstalk with Claire Byrne this morning about "climate anxiety" among school pupils, which apparently has reached record levels.

No wonder some of them don't want to go to school with the catastrophizing of everything.

www.newstalk.com

How can we ease climate anxiety among teens | Newstalk

Being a teenager has never been easy, but growing up in a world that’s seemingly sinking, on fire...
www.newstalk.com www.newstalk.com
It appears anxiety and related issues among the young for all kinds of reasons are seeing a permanent increase.
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Children are the same as they have been for about the last 100,000 years. If they are experiencing higher levels of stress and/or mental health problems it is entirely the fault of the adults in the world. There is a clear correlation between the advent of social media and the current deterioration in childhood mental health. I also remember during Covid when I questioned if there were going to longer term negative consequences for children and young people as they sacrificed two years of their youth for other people and it was like I said I supported Hitler. There was a time when children's futures were more important than the comfort and wealth of their parents and grandparents. In many ways that's no longer the case.
 
I was actually going to mention the Covid period - when the adults left the room and ran around screaming hysterically.

Children seeing their parents (and Government) behaving irrationally and disproportionately, exaggerating a threat beyond all reason was bound to affect them.

It was the Madness of Crowds in real-time.
 
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Purple said:
Children are the same as they have been for about the last 100,000 years.
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I'm very much afraid they are not, nor are adults.

The 2019 film "Dark Waters" details some of the reasons why children and the human race will never be the same again thanks to the likes of Dow Chemical/DuPont/Chemours/3M, their product Teflon its components, chemical by-products,and the others when it breaks down after becoming over-heated in use.

The credits of the film state most of the human race and our water supplies are now badly contaminated with these man-made, forever chemicals beyond any level that was ever considered safe. These safe levels were originally declared as 1 part-per-billion. The levels detected in the water around Parkerborough, West Virginia were 6 times that. Once that was discovered strangely, the chemical companies funded studies that established that the "real" safe levels were 250 parts-per-billion.

The lawyer fighting for compensation for the victims of the chemical poisonings, was instrumental in establishing a study that established the chemicals were responsible for "an increased incidence of two types of cancer and four other diseases in Parkersburg", both neurological and physiological.

Don't believe me or disbelieve me, watch the film,read the credits; I watched it for a second time on BBC2 on Monday last 23rd February.

Oh and BTW, do you have a BESS close to you or planned? If you do, ask your local authority, your fire service chief, and the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment about safety and protection plans in case fire and its consequences.
 
Back to the original ESRI report which I have just watched on the 9 pm TV news. I assumed that RTE had misquoted the report but the ESRI author actually said "Long term absence had an impact on educational performance. ... and it had an impact that carried forward into early adulthood in terms of wellbeing"

Aisling Kenny or RTE then said - presumably quoting the report - "Chronic absence at age 9 and 13 can result in higher rates of depression and stress later in life"

Does the ESRI not understand that correlation is not causation?

What ever factors are causing the absence from school in the first place are most likely causing the impacts on educational performance and depression and stress in later life.

So if the parents don't care about education and don't care whether they attend school or not, then they probably won't care if they don't do their homework or read books or watch telly all day.

And if it's a dysfunctional family causing the school absence, that is probably going to result in higher rates of stress and depression later in life.
 
The ESRI is quite clear - the absence is the cause of the problem

School absence leads to lower educational qualifications and poorer wellbeing in early adulthood

www.esri.ie www.esri.ie

How does school absence affect later educational outcomes?

  • Young people with prolonged absence from school are also more negative about the benefits of their schooling to their broader social and personal development, especially the role of their school in increasing their self-confidence and helping them develop into a well-balanced person.
  • Young people who attend a school with a higher prevalence of chronic absence achieve lower Leaving Certificate points. Even young people who themselves have good attendance have poorer outcomes if school-level absence is higher.
  • Attending a post-primary school with a high level of absence is linked to lower chances of attending higher education, even for those who had good attendance records.
If it wasn't a serious issue, it would be funny.

Emer Smyth, co-author of the report, said: ‘School absence emerges as an important driver of later inequality, with very significant negative consequences for educational attainment, health, wellbeing and social belonging. The findings highlight the urgency of addressing school absence, especially given the higher levels apparent since the pandemic. It is important too to look at how schools can mitigate the disruption of student development caused by absence through initiatives to help address learning loss and to support broader social development.’

Are they afraid to say " Parents who don't insist that their kids attend school or parents who have no interest in education are causing their kids problems in later life".?
 
Brendan Burgess said:
The ESRI is quite clear - the absence is the cause of the problem
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Thanks Brendan. I didn't have time yesterday to read the report. It's shows a complete failure to understand the information they are presenting.
The ERSI produced a rubbish report and the Irish Times and RTE didn't have the intellect to understand it was a rubbish report. Proper journalists would have torn the ERSI apart.
 
Purple said:
Yea, I meant genetically.
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So did I. The substances mentioned in the film and in the various reports produce genetic defects. At least one of the genetically different children of women working on the Teflon production line in Parkerborough, West Virginia appears as an adult in the film.
 
mathepac said:
So did I. The substances mentioned in the film and in the various reports produce genetic defects. At least one of the genetically different children of women working on the Teflon production line in Parkerborough, West Virginia appears as an adult in the film.
Click to expand...
I've watched the movie and I'm familiar with the case. I also work in a sector which uses a lot of engineering plastics. While the fumes released from overheating Teflon are dangerous and can cause underweight babies with associated health issues including brain damage the incidences of such cases have reduced considerably over the last 15 years. It's also the case that both PFOA's (Teflon) and the chemicals which have replaced them, are endocrine disruptors so they can interfere with the normal hormone cycle.

All that said there is no evidence that this issue has any meaningful bearing in the mental health issues faced by young people. In fact the incidences of detection of these chemicals in pregnant women in the USA has reduced significantly in the last 15 years (as mentioned above) while mental health issues amongst young people have gone in the opposite direction.
 
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