Homeschooled teens in a large US cohort: more volunteering, fewer college degrees
In short: In a long-running US cohort of nurses' children, those who were homeschooled as teenagers later volunteered more, scored higher on forgiveness and attended religious services more often than those in public schools, but were 23% less likely to get a college degree. Private and public school outcomes barely differed. These are associations, and only 187 people in the study were homeschooled.
| Paper | School types in adolescence and subsequent health and well-being in young adulthood: An outcome-wide analysis |
| Authors | Ying Chen, Christina Hinton, Tyler J. VanderWeele |
| Published | 10 November 2021 · PLOS ONE 16(11): e0258723 |
| Study type | Longitudinal cohort study (observational) · Peer-reviewed |
| What we read | Full text read. We read the open-access full text. |
| Summarized |
What they did
Researchers used the Growing Up Today Study. They recorded the type of school each participant attended in 1999 and looked at a wide range of outcomes in young adulthood (2007–2013): well-being, social engagement, character strengths, mental health, health behaviours and physical health. They adjusted for many family, demographic and health factors and corrected for multiple testing.
Who took part
12,288 children of participants in the Nurses' Health Study II, mean age about 14.6 at baseline; 187 were homeschooled. Most participants were non-Hispanic white.
What they found
- Homeschooling versus public school was associated with more frequent volunteering (β = 0.33), greater forgiveness (β = 0.31) and more frequent religious service attendance (risk ratio 1.51).
- Homeschooling was associated with lower college degree attainment (risk ratio 0.77, about 23% less likely).
- Weaker evidence (not surviving correction for multiple tests): more purpose in life, less marijuana use, fewer lifetime sexual partners, and possibly higher risk of PTSD.
- Private independent and public schools showed little difference across outcomes.
Effect size: Volunteering β = 0.33 (95% CI 0.15–0.52); forgiveness β = 0.31 (0.16–0.46); religious attendance RR 1.51 (1.27–1.80); college degree RR 0.77 (0.67–0.88).
Limitations
- Observational: families choose homeschooling for reasons that may also drive the outcomes.
- Only 187 homeschooled participants, so estimates are imprecise.
- All children of nurses, mostly white, homeschooled around 1999; today's homeschool population is more diverse.
- It does not separate different homeschooling styles or reasons.
What this means for learners and parents
- The data don't support sweeping claims either way. Homeschooled young adults differed from public-school peers on some outcomes, in both directions.
- If college is a goal, plan the route early: transcripts, exams and outside courses.
- Track what matters to your family beyond grades; this study is a reminder that outcomes are broader than test scores.
Put it into practice (free tools)
- Free homeschool planner and record keeper
- Using an AI tutor in homeschool without outsourcing the thinking
Citation
Ying Chen, Christina Hinton, Tyler J. VanderWeele (2021). School types in adolescence and subsequent health and well-being in young adulthood: An outcome-wide analysis. PLOS ONE 16(11): e0258723. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258723