Abstract
BackgroundMental health problems have become more common among young people over the last twenty years, especially in certain countries. The reasons for this have remained unclear. The hypothesis tested in this study is that national trends in young people's mental health are associated with national trends in young people's labour market.MethodsNational secular changes in the proportion of young people with mental health problems and national secular labour market changes were studied from 1983 to 2005 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.ResultsThe correlation between the national secular changes in the proportion of young people not in the labour force and the national secular changes in proportion of young people with mental health symptoms was 0.77 for boys and 0.92 for girls.ConclusionLabour market trends may have contributed to the deteriorating trend in mental health among young people. A true relationship, should other studies confirm it, would be an important aspect to take into account when forming labour market policies or policies concerning the delivery of higher education.
Highlights
Mental health problems have become more common among young people over the last twenty years, especially in certain countries
Several studies indicate that mental health problems have become more common among young people in highincome countries during the last fifty years [1,2]
Mental health problems became more common during the period
Summary
Mental health problems have become more common among young people over the last twenty years, especially in certain countries. The reasons for this have remained unclear. Several studies indicate that mental health problems have become more common among young people in highincome countries during the last fifty years [1,2]. Their status is similar to children in spite of physically being adults, a situation that might cause strain. Expectations might have increased at an even more rapid pace, which in turn might lead to frustration Both alcohol and illegal drugs are used more by young people.
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