By life stage · 5 tips

Around age 18

Whether to keep studying, plus health tips for teenagers and young adults.

1 Study or work

Which skills are worth learning

Turn “study or work” into a calculation: compare the three years of pay you'd earn by working now against the yearly income gap you'd gain over the next several decades by staying in school

Going to work now lets you earn a few years of wages sooner, but you collect that money once. Staying in school means earning somewhat more than you otherwise would every year, for 30 or 40 years in a row. So the two sums have to be put side by side. In Chinese cities, one more year of schooling went with roughly 4.0% to 10.2% higher yearly income, but those are figures from before 2001 and give only a rough idea.

High value
Evidence B
Saves money

Which skills are worth learning

Count schooling in the death-rate ledger too: each extra year of education lowers adult death risk by about 1.9%

Each extra year of schooling goes with an average of about 1.9% lower risk of death in adulthood. The effect is largest for people aged 18 to 49, about 2.9% lower per extra year, and only 0.8% lower for people 70 and over. People who can keep studying often had better circumstances to begin with, and it is not possible to tell how much of the difference comes from the schooling itself.

Moderate value
Evidence A
Buys life
Disputed

2 Body and mind

Children once they start school

Have a child aged 12 to 18 screened for depression once, and don't treat the school's psychological assessment as a diagnosis

American prevention guidelines recommend screening children aged 12 to 18 for major depression; for ages 11 and under the evidence is not enough. In the U.S., suicide is the second leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 19. The school's yearly psychological assessment is only a broad survey and can't be taken as a diagnosis. If the child says they feel awful, go straight to a psychiatry or clinical psychology department.

High value
Evidence B
Buys life
For: Child aged 3–18

Don't die early

Get the HPV vaccine for women, the earlier the better

In data on 1,670,000 (167万) women in Sweden, those vaccinated against HPV before age 17 had only about one-eighth the chance of later getting invasive cervical cancer compared with those not vaccinated. Those vaccinated between 17 and 30 had about half. So the earlier you get it, the more it is worth.

High value
Evidence A
Buys life
For: Women, Child aged 3–18

After a major blow

To have someone talk with you, call 12356 (China's national mental-health hotline); minors and teenagers call 12355 (national youth integrated service platform); to see a doctor, register at a psychological clinic

If you want someone to talk to, call 12356, the national psychological assistance hotline, which is free. For minors and teenagers there is also the 12355 youth integrated service platform (青少年综合服务平台). To see a doctor, register at the psychological clinic of a psychiatry, psychology or clinical psychology department. When there is a family upheaval, unemployment or dropping out of school, community grid workers and social workers are supposed to reach out on their own.

High value
Evidence B
Saves money

College students

This site arranged the groups and order on this page; the tips come from the book. About