Abstract
This study investigated the psychological effects of youth unemployment in Ghana. Youths within the ages of 18 and 35 years in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana constituted the research population. A sample of 362 youths, comprising both the employed (n = 172) and the unemployed (n = 190), were purposively selected. The employed youths served as a control group for comparative analyses. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted. The Hopelessness Depression Symptom Questionnaire (HDSQ), the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ), the Rosenberg’s Self-esteem Scale and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R) were used to assess psychological health (i.e., depression, cognitive distortions, self-esteem and suicidality) of the respondents. The Pearson r test, the Linear Regression test and the Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) test were used to analyze the data. The findings showed poorer psychological health among unemployed youths than employed youths. Duration of unemployment significantly predicted poorer psychological health among the youths. The findings and their implications are discussed with references to the existing literature and theories.
Highlights
Ghana's present population consists of about 57% youths (GSS, 2012)
Psychological health was defined in terms of depression, cognitive distortions, self-esteem and suicidality
Using Pillai’s trace, there was a significant effect of unemployment on depression, cognitive distortions, self-esteem and suicidal ideation (V = 0.04, F(4,357) = 3.65, p
Summary
Ghana's present population consists of about 57% youths (GSS, 2012). The proportion of the youth in the Ghanaian population corresponds with their share of the unemployment rate in Ghana. 60% of the unemployed in Ghana are in their youthful age (Amankrah, 2005). This makes Ghana’s youth unemployment rate one of the highest worldwide. Youth unemployment in Ghana is concentrated largely in urban cities. In Accra, the nation’s capital, unemployment rate is about 30.8%, compared to 11.5% in the rural settings and 23.5% in other urban cities (Amankrah, 2005)
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