The impact of mental health on student performance: a multilevel study using PISA 2022

July 4, 2025

This thesis investigates the relationship between students’ mental health and their academic performance using data from the Programe for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. By employing a two-level multilevel modeling approach, the study analyzes how emotional factors such as anxiety, depression, and nervousness influence student outcomes in mathematics, reading, and science. The analysis also includes school-level predictors, particularly school climate variables like bullying and perceived safety, aggregated from student responses. Data from over 135,000 students across 15 countries were used to assess both within- and between-school variance. The results show consistent negative effects of emotional distress on academic performance across all domains, with additional influence from contextual school factors. Interestingly, the feeling of nervousness showed a small positive effect on performance, which contrasts with the negative impact observed for depression and anxiety. This suggests that a certain level of nervousness might reflect academic engagement or motivation under pressure. Furthermore, cross-domain analysis revealed similar trends in fixed effect estimates for all subjects, reinforcing the robustness of the findings. This research highlights the importance of integrating mental health support within educational systems and offers practical recommendations for schools and policymakers. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Authors in the community:

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  X

  Xialing Kang

  ist195978

Supervisors of this institution:

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  M

  Miguel Alves Pereira

  ist176052

industrial-biotechnology - Industrial Biotechnology

eng - English

Instituto Superior Técnico