Emerging adults and the health effects of changing educational plans due to the Great Recession

The relationship between economic recessions and health is complex, with some studies indicating that people’s health improves during a downturn, and others finding that a recession is associated with an increase in poor health. The United States experienced the Great Recession between late 2007 and mid-2009, with effects still being felt, particularly in the job market. This recession may have changed the plans of emerging adults, at a stage in life when they expect to transition to higher education or enter the workforce. Such changes in plans may affect health.

Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Transition to Adulthood (PSID-TA) study, we question whether the recession has affected the health of emerging adults, whether the need to change educational plans due to the recession affected health, and how other factors might influence that. A difference in differences model is being used to measure the effects of changed educational plans after participants in the PSID-TA were “treated” with the recession. The outcome of interest is overall self-rated health.

More than a third of respondents indicated changing educational plans due to the recession. Characteristics of a young adult’s family influenced the relationship between self-rated health and whether a young adult changed plans.

Changing educational plans has a negative but minimal statistically significant effect on health. The recession did not amplify the relationships among changing plans, self-rated health, and mental health. More analyses are needed to understand other potential health effects of the recession for this critical demographic.