Academic Failures Increase Odds of Depression for Female Students

A University of Washington study has discovered that adolescent girls who experience serious academic failures - being suspended or expelled, or dropping out - are at significantly greater risk for developing depression later in life than are peers who are more successful in school.

Carolyn McCarty, the study's lead author, said in a university press release that her team's research leads to greater understanding of the potentially life-altering effects academic failure can inflict upon female students. "We already know that it leads to more poverty, higher rates of being on public assistance and lower rates of job stability," McCarty said. "And now this study shows it is having mental health implications for girls."

McCarty's team analyzed data collected by the Seattle Social Development Research Project, which has been tracking 808 individuals from high-crime neighborhoods since 1985. Their results, which were published in the August 2008 edition of the Journal of >Adolescent Health, included the following findings related to academic failure and depression:

• Forty-four percent of girls who were expelled from school suffered from depression by age 21 (compared to a 20 percent depression rate among girls who weren't kicked out of school).


• Thirty-three percent of the girls who dropped out later became depressed, but only 19 percent of non-dropouts did.


• Twenty-eight percent of the girls who were suspended became depressed later in life, compared with 19 percent of female students who weren't suspended.


• Though 45 percent of the girls and 68 percent of the boys in the study experienced a major school failure, the 22 percent depression rate among girls was significantly higher than the 17 percent rate for male students.

In the July 22, 2008, university press release that announced the study's findings, McCarty said that her team has discovered a "gender paradox" in which boys experience more school-related failures, but girls suffer from more long-term consequences with "cascading effects."

The team's findings, McCarty said, point to a need for a more comprehensive approach toward helping students deal with a wide range of issues that may cause - or be affected by - academic failures.

"We need to look more broadly at functioning and see what is going on with other aspects of their lives including the psychological," she said. "We can't just put a Band-Aid on one thing that seems to be a problem because often there is an underlying bigger issue that has to be addressed."