ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of high school students' mental health on their academic achievement and school dropout rate by using longitudinal data. METHODS: For this study, 153 high schools were randomly sampled on a nationwide scale. The descriptive data was collected from a school information internet site which is organized by the Korean Ministry of Education. We used the schools' mean scores on the Adolescent Mental Health Problem-Behavior Questionnaire-II (AMPQ-II) scale which was used for estimating students' mental health in the 2013 school-based mental health screening test. The data analysis was conducted by using hierarchical regression analysis. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that the AMPQ-II scale's mean scores have significant effects on the following year's academic achievement and annual dropout rates. Especially, the AMPQ-II scale's mean scores tend to increase the school dropout rate in vocational schools. CONCLUSION: The finding of this study is that Korean high school students' mental health states significantly influence their academic achievement and school dropout rate.