Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Do open youth unemployment and youth programs leave the same mental health scars? - Evidence from a Swedish 27-year cohort study

Authors: Mattias Strandh, Karina Nilsson, Madelene Nordlund, Anne Hammarström

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Recent findings suggest that the mental health costs of unemployment are related to both short- and long-term mental health scars. The main policy tools for dealing with young people at risk of labor market exclusion are Active Labor Market Policy programs for youths (youth programs). There has been little research on the potential effects of participation in youth programs on mental health and even less on whether participation in such programs alleviates the long-term mental health scarring caused by unemployment. This study compares exposure to open youth unemployment and exposure to youth program participation between ages 18 and 21 in relation to adult internalized mental health immediately after the end of the exposure period at age 21 and two decades later at age 43.

Methods

The study uses a five wave Swedish 27-year prospective cohort study consisting of all graduates from compulsory school in an industrial town in Sweden initiated in 1981. Of the original 1083 participants 94.3 % of those alive were still participating at the 27-year follow up. Exposure to open unemployment and youth programs were measured between ages 18–21. Mental health, indicated through an ordinal level three item composite index of internalized mental health symptoms (IMHS), was measured pre-exposure at age 16 and post exposure at ages 21 and 42.
Ordinal regressions of internalized mental health at ages 21 and 43 were performed using the Polytomous Universal Model (PLUM). Models were controlled for pre-exposure internalized mental health as well as other available confounders.

Results

Results show strong and significant relationships between exposure to open youth unemployment and IMHS at age 21 (OR = 2.48, CI = 1.57–3.60) as well as at age 43 (OR = 1.71, CI = 1.20–2.43). No such significant relationship is observed for exposure to youth programs at age 21 (OR = 0.95, CI = 0.72–1.26) or at age 43 (OR = 1.23, CI = 0.93–1.63).

Conclusions

A considered and consistent active labor market policy directed at youths could potentially reduce the short- and long-term mental health costs of youth unemployment.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Scarpetta S, Sonnet A, Manfredi T. Rising youth unemployment during the crisis. Paris: Documents de travail de l’OCDE sur les affaires sociales, l’emploi et les migrations; 2010.CrossRef
2.
Paul KI, Moser K. Unemployment impairs mental health: meta-analyses. J Vocat Behav. 2009;74:264–82.CrossRef
3.
McKee-Ryan F, Song Z, Wanberg CR, Kinicki AJ. Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: a meta-analytic study. J Appl Psychol. 2005;90:53.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Lucas RE, Clark AE, Georgellis Y, Diener E. Unemployment alters the set point for life satisfaction. Psychol Sci. 2004;15:8–13.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Daly M, Delaney L. The scarring effect of unemployment throughout adulthood on psychological distress at age 50: estimates controlling for early adulthood distress and childhood psychological factors. Soc Sci Med. 2013;80:19–23.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Clark A, Georgellis Y, Scarring SP. The psychological impact of past unemployment. Economica. 2001;68:221–41.CrossRef
7.
Winefield A, Tiggemann M, Winefield H, Goldney R. Growing up with unemployment: a longitudinal study of its psychological impact. London: Routledge; 1993.
8.
Goldsmith AH, Veum JR, Darity Jr W. The psychological impact of unemployment and joblessness. J Socio Econ. 1996;25:333–58.CrossRef
9.
Hammarström A, Janlert U, Theorell T. Youth unemployment and ill health: results from a 2-year follow-up study. Soc Sci Med. 1988;26:1025–33.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Wadsworth ME, Montgomery SM, Bartley MJ. The persisting effect of unemployment on health and social well-being in men early in working life. Soc Sci Med. 1999;48:1491–9.CrossRefPubMed
11.
Mossakowski KN. The influence of past unemployment duration on symptoms of depression among young women and men in the United States. Am J Public Health. 2009;99:1826.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
12.
Hammarström A, Janlert U. Early unemployment can contribute to adult health problems: results from a longitudinal study of school leavers. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2002;56:624–30.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
13.
14.
OECD. OECD employment outlook 2011. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2011.
15.
Audhoe SS, Hoving JL, Sluiter JK, Frings-Dresen MH. Vocational interventions for unemployed: effects on work participation and mental distress. A systematic review. J Occup Rehabil. 2010;20:1–13.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Vastamäki J, Moser K, Paul KI. How stable is sense of coherence? Changes following an intervention for unemployed individuals. Scand J Psychol. 2009;50:161–71.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Vuori J, Vesalainen J. Labour market interventions as predictors of re‐employment, job seeking activity and psychological distress among the unemployed. J Occup Organ Psychol. 1999;72:523–38.CrossRef
18.
Creed PA, Bloxsome TD, Johnston K. Self-esteem and self-efficacy outcomes for unemployed individuals attending occupational skills training programs. Community Work Fam. 2001;4:285–303.CrossRef
19.
Hammarström A, Janlert U. Cohort profile: the northern Swedish cohort. Int J Epidemiol. 2012;41:1545–52.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Hammarström A. Youth unemployment and ill-health. Results from a two year follow-up study. Stockholm: Karolinska Institute; 1986.
21.
Kringlen E, Fredriksson I, Kebbon L. Psychiatric pathology and therapeutic approach in health care work. Stockholm: Esselte Studium; 1980.
22.
Laavik N. Mental health among young people. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget; 1976.
23.
Thorslund MaW B. Methodological research in the Swedish surveys of living conditions. Problems of measurement and data collection. Soc Indic Res. 1985;116:77–95.CrossRef
24.
Winefield HR, Hammarström A, Nygren K, Hägglöf B. Internalized symptoms in adolescence as predictors of mental health in adulthood in the Northern Swedish cohort. Health. 2013;5:1164.CrossRef
25.
Mastekaasa A. Unemployment and health: selection effects. J Community Appl Soc. 1996;6:189–205.CrossRef
26.
Åberg R. Equilibrium unemployment, search behaviour and unemployment persistency. Camb J Econ. 2001;25:131–47.CrossRef
27.
O’Connell AA. Logistic regression models for ordinal response variables. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications; 2006.CrossRef
28.
Garson GD. Testing statistical assumptions. North Carolina: Statistical Associates Publishing; 2012.
29.
Strandh M. State intervention and mental well-being among the unemployed. J Soc Policy. 2001;30:57–80.
30.
Breidahl KN, Clement SL. Does active labour market policy have an impact on social marginalization? Soc Policy Adm. 2010;44:845–64.CrossRef
31.
Reine I, Novo M, Hammarström A. Is participation in labour market programmes related to mental health? Results from a 14-year follow-up of the Northern Swedish Cohort. Scand J Public Health. 2011;39:26–34.CrossRefPubMed
32.
Korpi T. Is utility related to employment status? Employment, unemployment, labor market policies and subjective well-being among Swedish youth. Labour Econ. 1997;4:125–47.CrossRef
33.
Andersen SH. The short-and long-term effects of government training on subjective well-being. Eur Sociol Rev. 2008;24:451–62.CrossRef
34.
Jahoda M. Employment and unemployment – a social psychological analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1982.
35.
Ursin H, Eriksen HR. Cognitive activation theory of stress (CATS). Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2010;34:877–81.CrossRefPubMed
36.
Fares J, Tiongson E. Youth unemployment, labor market transitions, and scarring: evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2001–04. Washington: World Bank Publications; 2007.
37.
Arulampalam W. Is unemployment really scarring? Effects of unemployment experiences on wages. Econ J. 2001;111:585–606.CrossRef
38.
Gregg P. The impact of youth unemployment on adult unemployment in the NCDS. Econ J. 2001;111:626–53.CrossRef
39.
Kuh D, Ben-Shlomo Y, Lynch J, Hallqvist J, Power C. Life course epidemiology. J Epidemiol Commun Health. 2003;57:778–83.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Do open youth unemployment and youth programs leave the same mental health scars? - Evidence from a Swedish 27-year cohort study
Authors
Mattias Strandh
Karina Nilsson
Madelene Nordlund
Anne Hammarström
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2496-5

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

BMC Public Health 1/2015 Go to the issue

Research article

Patterns of accidental deaths in Kuwait: a retrospective descriptive study from 2003–2009

Research article

The care.data consensus? A qualitative analysis of opinions expressed on Twitter

Study protocol

Municipal return to work management in cancer survivors undergoing cancer treatment: a protocol on a controlled intervention study

Study protocol

Design and baseline characteristics of the PerfectFit study: a multicenter cluster-randomized trial of a lifestyle intervention in employees with increased cardiovascular risk

Research article

How can collaboration be strengthened between public health and primary care? A Dutch multiple case study in seven neighbourhoods

Research article

Preparedness of Hospitals in the Republic of Ireland for an Influenza Pandemic, an Infection Control Perspective