Effect of Education on Wellbeing Among High School Students in a Poor Rural Zone of Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

Education provides the opportunity to overcome poverty and attain greater wellbeing. An evaluation was done of the impact of education - understood as formation of knowledge, values and attitudes – on wellbeing in high school students in a poor rural zone of Yucatan, Mexico. A total of 223 (94 women, 129 men) students from 14 to 19 years of age answered an instrument covering two wellbeing dimensions: eating habits and self-concept. Statistical analyses of their answers showed education to have an effect only in some aspects of eating habits. Differences by sex were present in both eating habits and selfconcept, and age affected only self-concept. The education offered these students had only a minimal effect on improving their wellbeing, undermining one of the overarching purposes of education.