ArticleJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2023
Relative age in the school year and risk of mental health problems in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.
Article in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis: relative age in attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- School Entry Deferral: Effects of Age and Schooling on Children's Longitudinal Executive Function Development and Parent-Reported Socio-Emotional and Regulatory Outcomes.Developmental science · 2026Article
- Exploring genetic confounding of the associations between screen time and depressive symptoms in adolescence and early adulthood.International journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Ultrasound-based prediction model for years to peak height velocity using multiple secondary ossification centers.Journal of medical ultrasonics (2001) · 2026Article
- Systemic review of the relative age effect in Scottish schooling: a public health imperative for policy reform and equity.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- A hypothesis-free approach to identifying potential effects of relative age in school year: an instrumental variable phenome-wide association study in the UK Biobank.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Relative Age Effects on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Educational Achievement: A Longitudinal UK Cohort Study.JAACAP open · 2024Article
- 40-years of relative age effects: life is not fair!Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Regression discontinuity design for the study of health effects of exposures acting early in life.Frontiers in public health · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeRelative age within the school year ('relative age') is associated with increased rates of symptoms and diagnoses of mental health disorders, including ADHD. We aimed to investigate how relative age influences mental health and behaviour before, during and after school (age range: 4-25 years).
methodWe used a regression discontinuity design to examine the effect of relative age on risk of mental health problems using data from a large UK population-based cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC); N = 14,643). We compared risk of mental health problems between ages 4 and 25 years using the parent-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and depression using self-rated and parent-rated Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) by relative age.
resultsThe youngest children in the school year have greater parent-rated risk of mental health problems, measured using parent-rated SDQ total difficulties scores. We found no evidence of differences before school entry [estimated standardised mean difference (SMD) between those born on 31 August and 1 September: .02 (-.05, .08)]. We found that estimates of effect size for a 1-year difference in relative age were greatest at 11 years [SMD: .22 (.15, .29)], but attenuated to the null at 25 years [SMD: -.02 (-.11, .07)]. We did not find consistent evidence of differences in self-rated and parent-rated depression by relative age.
conclusionsYounger relative age is associated with poorer parent-rated general mental health, but not symptoms of depression.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.