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Committed to work but vulnerable: self-perceptions and mental health in NEET 18-year olds from a contemporary British cohort.

ABSTRACT: Labour market disengagement among youths has lasting negative economic and social consequences, yet is poorly understood. We compared four types of work-related self-perceptions, as well as vulnerability to mental health and substance abuse problems, among youths not in education, employment or training (NEET) and among their peers.Participants were from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) longitudinal study, a nationally representative UK cohort of 2,232 twins born in 1994-1995. We measured commitment to work, job-search effort, professional/technical skills, 'soft' skills (e.g. teamwork, decision-making, communication), optimism about getting ahead, and mental health and substance use disorders at age 18. We also examined childhood mental health.At age 18, 11.6% of participants were NEET. NEET participants reported themselves as committed to work and searching for jobs with greater diligence than their non-NEET peers. However, they reported fewer 'soft' skills (B = -0.98, p < .001) and felt less optimistic about their likelihood of getting ahead in life (B = -2.41, p < .001). NEET youths also had higher rates of concurrent mental health and substance abuse problems, but these did not explain the relationship with work-related self-perceptions. Nearly 60% of NEET (vs. 35% of non-NEET) youths had already experienced ?1 mental health problem in childhood/adolescence. Associations of NEET status with concurrent mental health problems were independent of pre-existing mental health vulnerability.Our findings indicate that while NEET is clearly an economic and mental health issue, it does not appear to be a motivation issue. Alongside skills, work-related self-perceptions and mental health problems may be targets for intervention and service provision among this high-risk population.

SUBMITTER: Goldman-Mellor S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4789764 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Committed to work but vulnerable: self-perceptions and mental health in NEET 18-year olds from a contemporary British cohort.

Goldman-Mellor Sidra S Caspi Avshalom A Arseneault Louise L Ajala Nifemi N Ambler Antony A Danese Andrea A Fisher Helen H Hucker Abigail A Odgers Candice C Williams Teresa T Wong Chloe C Moffitt Terrie E TE

Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines 20150826 2

<h4>Background</h4>Labour market disengagement among youths has lasting negative economic and social consequences, yet is poorly understood. We compared four types of work-related self-perceptions, as well as vulnerability to mental health and substance abuse problems, among youths not in education, employment or training (NEET) and among their peers.<h4>Methods</h4>Participants were from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) longitudinal study, a nationally representative UK cohort of 2,232 twins bor ...[more]

PMID: 26791344

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Dataset Information

Committed to work but vulnerable: self-perceptions and mental health in NEET 18-year olds from a contemporary British cohort.

Publications

Committed to work but vulnerable: self-perceptions and mental health in NEET 18-year olds from a contemporary British cohort.

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