ASM Research meeting, Access to universal childhood education and adolescent mental health

Arijit Nandi: Evaluating the impact of access to universal early childhood education on adolescent mental health in European countries                                                                                                          

Randomized evaluations of small-scale, means-tested, early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs suggest that ECEC programs have the potential to improve health outcomes over the life-course. However, few studies have assessed the impact of large-scale, universal ECEC programs, including those implemented by many high-income countries over the past two decades. In this study we used a difference-in-differences design applied to data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a repeated, cross-sectional, school-based survey, to estimate the impact of introducing free ECEC on adolescent health, specifically indicators of mental health and substance use, among children exposed to ECEC during their preschool years.