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It is well established that children’s school readiness is associated with their later academic achievement, but less is known about whether school readiness is also associated with other measures of school success, such as students’ social and emotional wellbeing. While some previous research has shown a link between early social and emotional development and student wellbeing, results are mixed and the strength of these relationships vary depending on whether data is based on child, teachers or parents ratings and which specific student wellbeing outcomes are measured. The present study explored the association between teacher-rated school readiness (Mage = 5.6 years) across five developmental domains (physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive, and communication and general knowledge) and four aspects of student wellbeing (life satisfaction, optimism, sadness and worries) in Grade 6 (Mage = 11.9 years) in a sample of 3906 Australian children. After adjustment for background child and family-level factors, children’s early physical, social and emotional development were associated with all four wellbeing outcomes in Grade 6, but early language and cognitive skills and communication and general knowledge skills were only associated with internalising behaviours (sadness and worries). Mechanisms through which these different aspects of development might influence later wellbeing are discussed, as well as ways that schools and governments can support students’ social and emotional wellbeing.

Many mental health concerns emerge in adolescence, having profound implications for education and work in young adulthood. This dissertation examines how adolescent mental health and its effect on education and work are impacted by institutional differences between Canada, the USA, and the Netherlands. This research is presented in four quantitative studies of population-level prospective cohort data. Growth mixture models were used to identify depressive symptom trajectories between adolescence and young adulthood in Canada and the USA. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and depressive symptom trajectories, and education, and work in Canada and the USA. Causal mediation was used to estimate the indirect effect of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems on NEET (not in education, employment, or training) through educational attainment in the Netherlands, and two cohorts in the USA. The findings demonstrate that depressive symptom trajectories between adolescence and young adulthood were similar between Canada and the USA, but inequalities by childhood SES were more pronounced in the USA. Elevated symptoms predicted lower standing in education and work in both Canada and the USA. However, Canadians had more favourable education and work outcomes than Americans in general. Educational attainment was an intervenable mechanism linking adolescent mental health problems to labour market exclusion in young adulthood in both the Netherlands and the USA. However, this indirect effect was stronger in the Netherlands than in the USA. While this indirect effect did not vary between cohorts, the direct effect of adolescent mental health did. The findings show that adolescent mental health inequalities are shaped by a dynamic interplay between developmental processes and the institutional environment (the social safety net, and the education and labour market systems). Normative developmental processes drive longitudinal patterns in adolescent mental health problems, and the risks they present for education and work in young adulthood. This dissertation suggests, however, that the contexts in which individuals grow up make a difference for the (un)equal distribution of mental health within a society, and for the potential for mental health problems to negatively impact education and work in young adulthood.