Student health investments and mental health in Stockholm

Do investments reach different groups of students?

How are changes in municipal spending on student health related to young people’s mental health - and do the effects differ between groups?

This project studied student mental health across 26 municipalities in the Stockholm region between 2006 and 2024, combining information on student well-being with municipal spending and measures of student health service quality.

Why this matters

Student health services are an important part of schools’ ability to prevent and respond to mental health problems. But increasing resources does not automatically tell us which students benefit or how services should be organized.

The research therefore examined both changes over time within municipalities and persistent differences between municipalities.

Research design

The study used the Stockholm School Survey, a population-based survey conducted every second year among grade 9 students in the Stockholm region.

The sample included 63,190 students from 26 municipalities across 10 measurement periods between 2006 and 2024.

The researchers combined this with:

  • Municipal student health expenditure data from the Swedish National Agency for Education.
  • Teacher assessments of student health service quality from the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.
  • Statistical analysis distinguishing changes over time from stable differences between municipalities.

Findings

The research identified substantial gender differences in mental health. In 2024, 59 percent of boys compared with 31 percent of girls were classified as having complete mental health in the analysis, while girls had almost three times the risk of belonging to the group with the greatest problems.

The material also indicates that changes in student health budgets were only partly associated with differences in student well-being and psychiatric problems – raising further questions about how student health services are organized, not only how much is spent.

Researcher