Leaving School: A Healthy Transition in Late Adolescence?

Abstract

Background: Adolescents' subjective well-being (SWB) is a key indicator of quality of life. While its development during schooling has been widely studied, few studies have examined changes in SWB after leaving school due to the need for longitudinal data. This study investigates changes in SWB among adolescents in Germany over the two years before and after leaving school, focusing on school type, socioeconomic position, gender, and family structure.

Methods: We use data from the ninth-grade cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study, first surveyed in 2010 and followed annually. Growth modeling (specifically, a multilevel discontinuity model) is applied to analyze SWB trajectories and potential moderation by background characteristics. The final sample includes 19,767 observations from 6599 individuals.

Results: SWB increases notably after leaving school and remains stable before and after the transition. The increase is smaller for adolescents completing higher secondary education, living in nuclear families, or identifying as male. These groups report higher SWB prior to the transition, so post-school changes reduce group differences.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that schools may lack adequate resources to support adolescents in mastering key developmental challenges. While school is a critical environment, it may also impose pressures that are associated with lower well-being.