Associations between Adolescent Psychosocial Factors and Disengagement from Education and Employment in Young Adulthood among Individuals with Common Mental Health Problems

Place Matters: Understanding Geographic Influences on Youth Not in Education, Employment, or Training-A Scoping Review

INTRODUCTION

Youth aged 15-29 who are not engaged in education, employment, or training (NEET) represent a critical concern within the European Union (EU).

AIM

This review aims to ascertain whether existing studies address the impact of living in either rural or urban settings, or in specific types of neighborhoods, on the likelihood of young European individuals falling into NEET status.

METHODS

On February 21, 2023, and subsequently updated on January 15, 2024, a thorough literature search was carried out across four major databases to compile relevant studies.

RESULTS

From an initial pool of 33,314 articles, 11 studies were deemed relevant for this review involving over 786,399 participants. The analysis revealed that residing in disadvantaged neighborhoods, characterized by significant crime rates and unemployment levels surpassing national averages, correlates strongly with an increased incidence of NEET status among youth. Notably, impoverished areas with a high presence of visible minorities were associated with higher rates of school dropout or unemployment. Furthermore, the conditions of the local labor market were found to notably affect dropout rates from secondary schools, especially in urban centers. Whereas rural areas exhibited elevated unemployment rates among the youth.

CONCLUSIONS

This review underscores the need for targeted policies that address geographical disparities in NEET status by tailoring interventions to urban, rural, and neighborhood-specific contexts. Policymakers should focus on localized support programs and integrate geographical factors into strategic planning to ensure equitable opportunities for all youth.

Beyond the mind: Understanding the influence of mental health on youth NEET status in Europe-A systematic literature review

INTRODUCTION

In the fields of labor market and education research, there is a vast interest in mental health factors affecting unsuccessful school-to-work transitions, dropout from school and labor market disconnections for young people. Young people who are not in employment, education or training are conceived of as NEET.

AIM

To get an overview we conducted a systematic review of the present literature on the influence of mental health on the likelihood of becoming NEET in Europe.

METHOD

A Systematic literature search was conducted in four databases on February 21, 2023, with an update on January 15, 2024.

RESULTS

33,314 articles were screened whereas 41 studies involving 8,914,123 individuals were included. Poor mental health such as attention deficit hyperactive disorder, autism, depression, borderline, and psychosis during childhood and adolescence is strongly associated with becoming NEET.

CONCLUSION

Mental health issues, whether mild or severe, heighten significant the risk of adverse education and employment outcomes in early adulthood, extending to young individuals with personality disorders, borderline personality disorder, and psychoses. These observations inform early intervention strategies for children and young people grappling with mental health challenges. Timely treatment is essential. Future research should focus on the gap in research like specific disorders such as eating disorders and anxiety.

Associations of mental well-being with higher education-related stress and orientation of the academic goals among nursing students: A cross-sectional study

To investigate the association between the mental health of nursing students, the stress of higher education, and academic goal orientation. At a medical college, 1170 nursing students volunteered for this cross-sectional survey. The Warwick-Edinburgh Well-being Scale, the Higher Education Stress Scale, and the Academic Goal Orientation Questionnaire were utilised to collect data. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation analysis were all performed to evaluate the data. The significance level for all statistical tests was p < 0.05. A total of 1126 valid samples, with a 96.23% effective recovery rate. The Higher Education Stress Scale score for nursing students was (38.31 ± 8.29), the Academic Goal Orientation Questionnaire result was (49.32 ± 9.62), and the Mental Health Scale value was (31.24 ± 14.00). Overall, there was a strong relationship between the stress associated with higher education, academic goal orientation, and the mental health of nursing students. Therefore, in future interventions, the Chinese government and its relevant educational authorities can enhance nursing students' ability to reasonably regulate stress related to higher education and set clear academic goals by adjusting the strategies for regulating nursing students' academic stress and increasing the number of academic goal-oriented courses to improve their mental health.

Behavioral Characteristics of China's NEET-Prone University Students and Graduates: A Survey from Southwest China

The NEET phenomenon (not in education, employment or training) has significant implications, both for individuals and society at large. While China's higher education students are particularly susceptible to becoming NEET, relatively little attention has been given to understanding this issue. To address this research gap and contribute to the study of NEET in China, this paper collected a total of 12,616 samples from current higher education students and those who graduated within the past three years from universities in seven provinces of Southwest China, finding that 21.91% of the students surveyed fall into the NEET-prone student category. The underlying factors contributing to NEET-prone status are identified through logit regression analysis and categorized into three levels: individual, family, and society. At the individual level, factors such as personal ability, confidence in job-hunting, and attitude towards NEET significantly influence a student's likelihood of being NEET-prone. Family-level factors include being an only child, consumption level, economic dependence on family members, and the presence of NEET relatives. And social-level factors encompass school provision (or non-provision) of employment services, the number of employment services offered, and the possibility of obtaining loans from society. Finally, this paper concludes by offering recommendations, which are drawn from individual, family, and social perspectives, to help Chinese higher education students avoid NEET status.

Initial validation of the Multidimensional Adolescent Functioning Scale (MAFS) in Spanish-speaking students from Chilean secondary schools

INTRODUCTION

Psychosocial functioning is closely associated with psychopathology and wellbeing in different populations, particularly adolescents. Despite its relevance, measures assessing psychosocial functioning in healthy adolescents are scant as most focus on adults or clinical populations. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Adolescent Functioning Scale (MAFS), a self-report questionnaire created to assess three dimensions of psychosocial functioning ('general functioning', 'family-related functioning', and 'peer-related functioning') in adolescents from the general population.

METHODS

After translation and cultural adaptation, we administered the Spanish MAFS to 619 adolescents aged 14 to 19. We assessed the factor structure, internal consistency, and associations with depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, cognitive-behavioral skills, cognitive reappraisal (CR), and expressive suppression (ES). We additionally tested for measurement invariance based on biological sex.

RESULTS

The original three-factor structure showed the best fit. Internal consistency was good for the total scale (ω = 0.874; α = 0.869; GLB = 0.939, r_M=0.216) and for all subscales (ω = 0.806-0.839; α = 0.769 to 0.812; GLB = 0.861-0.873). Correlations between all three MAFS subscales were significant, ranging between 0.291 and 0.554. All MAFS subscales correlated positively and significantly with cognitive-behavioral skills and adaptive regulatory strategies and negatively with depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation.

CONCLUSION

The Spanish MAFS translation is a valid and reliable self-report measure to assess three domains of psychosocial functioning in adolescents aged 14-19 from the general population.