The impact of school exclusion in childhood on health and well‐being outcomes in adulthood: Estimating causal effects using inverse probability of treatment weighting

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundPrevious evidence has suggested a strong association between school exclusion and health outcomes. However, as health risks are themselves related to the risk of experiencing a school exclusion, it has been challenging to determine the extent to which school exclusion impacts later health outcomes, as opposed to reflecting a marker for pre‐existing risks.AimThe aim of the current study was to address this challenge in estimating the medium‐to‐long‐term impact of school exclusion of health and well‐being outcomes.MethodsTo this end, we used an inverse propensity weighting approach in the Next Steps data set (N = 6534, from wave 1, 2014, to wave 8, 2015).ResultsWe found that after weighting for propensity of treatment scores estimated based on a wide range of factors, including previous health indicators, there was a significant effect of school exclusion on a wide range of health and well‐being outcomes.DiscussionThese results provide some of the most robust evidence to date that school exclusion harms long‐term health outcomes.ConclusionThe findings suggest that policies should aim to reduce exclusion and ensure access to preventative health support for those who experience a school exclusion.