ABSTRACT
For a generation which has grown to adulthood during the 1980s and early 1990s, issues to do with health and health behaviour have been prominent for both positive and negative reasons. Deterioration in both mental and physical health has been observed in people who have been forced to borrow money. Mental health at age 26 years was investigated using the Malaise Inventory, a 24 item checklist which measures emotional stress and associated somatic symptoms of depression. Qualifications are likely to influence health through an individual’s relative success or failure in the labour market. Stress caused by life-time adversity is likely to have consequences not just for mental health, but also for physical health and other adult outcomes. The variability of the processes by which risks to health are accumulated throughout life indicates that there will be considerable variation in the timing of the onset and nature of any morbidity.
