NEET Status and Mental Health Disorders: Evidence from a Developing Country
Main Article Content
Abstract
The extant literature defines the young individuals engaged in neither employment nor education or training program as “NEET”. This study investigates the relationship between being NEET and the probability of having mental health disorders among youth in Turkey. We conducted a bivariate probit model with selection by utilizing data from the Turkish Health Surveys (THS) of 2014, 2016, and 2019. The results indicate that the probability of being NEET increases with age, being women and married. In addition, the parents' education and wealth statutes are found to be important determinants of a young individual’s NEET status. The value of the correlation coefficient (1.69) in the probit model indicates that there is a positive association between being NEET and experiencing mental health disorders and that some unobserved factors (i.e., access to mental health services, psychosocial support, cultural factors) are positively related to experiencing mental health disorders. We conclude that the circumstances causing young people to be unemployed also tend to make them have mental health disorders, but unemployed NEET with higher levels of education are less likely to experience mental health disorders.
JEL Codes: I12, I19, J21
Keywords: Mental health disorders, NEET, Turkey, Developing country, Bivariate probit models with selection
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Karaoğlan, D., Tat, P. and Beğen, N. (2023) “NEET Status and Mental Health Disorders: Evidence from a Developing Country”, World Journal of Applied Economics, 9(2), pp. 163-180. doi: 10.22440/wjae.9.2.4.
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References
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Basta, M., Karakonstantis, S., Koutra, K., Dafermos, V., Papargiris, A., Drakaki, M., ... Papadakis, N. (2019). NEET status among young Greeks: association with mental health and substance use. Journal of Affective Disorders, 253, 210-217. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.095
Benjet, C., Hernandez-Montoya, D., Borges, G., Mendez, E., Medina-Mora, M. E., & Aguilar-Gaxiola, S. (2012). Youth who neither study nor work: mental health, education and employment. Salud Pública de México, 54, 410-417.
Caruana, E., Allott, K., Farhall, J., Parrish, E. M., Davey, C. G., Chanen, A. M., ... Cotton, S. M. (2019). Factors associated with vocational disengagement among young people entering mental health treatment. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 13, 961-968. doi:10.1111/eip.12718
Chen, Y., Lv, C., Li, X., Zhang, J., Chen, K., Liu, Z., ... Zhang, Z. (2019). The positive impacts of early-life education on cognition, leisure activity, and brain structure in healthy aging. Aging (Albany NY), 11, 4923.
Cottini, E., & Ghinetti, P. (2017). Is it the way you live or the job you have? Health effects of lifestyles and working conditions. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 17, 20160222. doi:10.1515/bejeap-2016-0222
Cutler, D. M., Lleras-Muney, A., & Vogl, T. (2011). Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms. In S. Glied, & P. C. Smith (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Health Economics (pp. 124-163). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238828.013.0007
Feng, Z., Everington, D., Ralston, K., Dibben, C., Raab, G., & Graham, E. (2015). Consequences, risk factors, and geography of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). Research Findings, Scottish Government.
Fernandez-Suarez, A., Herrero, J., Perez, B., Juarros-Basterretxea, J., & Rodriguez-Diaz, F. J. (2016). Risk factors for school dropout in a sample of juvenile offenders. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1-7. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01993
Gariepy, G., Danna, S. M., Hawke, L., Henderson, J., & Iyer, S. N. (2022). The mental health of young people who are not in education, employment, or training: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 57, 1107–1121. doi:10.1007/s00127-021-02212-8
Gladwell, D., Popli, G., & Tsuchiya, A. (2015). Estimating the impact of health on NEET status. Research Paper, Sheffield Economics Research Paper Series.
Goldman‐Mellor, S., Caspi, A., Arseneault, L., Ajala, N., Ambler, A., Danese, A., ... Moffitt, T. E. (2016). Committed to work but vulnerable: Self‐perceptions and mental health in NEET 18‐year olds from a contemporary British cohort. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57, 196-203. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12459
Gutierrez-Garcia, R. A., Benjet, C., Borges, G., Mendez Rios, E., & Medina-Mora, M. E. (2017). NEET adolescents grown up: eight-year longitudinal follow-up of education, employment and mental health from adolescence to early adulthood in Mexico City. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 1459-1469. doi:10.1007/s00787-017-1004-0
Henderson, J. L., Hawke, L. D., Chaim, G., & Network, N. Y. (2017). Not in employment, education or training: Mental health, substance use, and disengagement in a multi-sectoral sample of service-seeking Canadian youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 75, 138-145. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.02.024
Hergenrather, K. C., Emmanuel, D., McGuire-Kuletz, M., & Rhodes, S. D. (2018). Employment as a social determinant of health: Exploring the relationship between neurocognitive function and employment status. Rehabilitation Research, Policy, and Education, 32, 101-122. doi:10.1891/2168-6653.32.2.101
Hjorth, C. F., Bilgrav, L., Frandsen, L. S., Overgaard, C., Torp-Pedersen, C., Nielsen, B., & Boggild, H. (2016). Mental health and school dropout across educational levels and genders: a 4.8-year follow-up study. BMC Public Health, 16, 1-12. doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3622-8
Holloway, E. M., Rickwood, D., Rehm, I. C., Meyer, D., Griffiths, S., & Telford, N. (2018). Non-participation in education, employment, and training among young people accessing youth mental health services: demographic and clinical correlates. Advances in Mental Health, 16, 19-32. doi:10.1080/18387357.2017.1342553
Hussmanns, R., Mehran, F., & Varmā, V. (1990). Surveys of economically active population, employment, unemployment, and underemployment: an ILO manual on concepts and methods. International Labour Organization.
ILO. (2013). Global employment trends for youth 2013; A generation at risk. Report, International Labour Organization.
ILO. (2015). What does NEETs mean and why is the concept so easily misinterpreted? Technical Brief No.1 Report, International Labour Organization.
ILO. (2023). Youth Employment. Youth Employment.
Iyer, S., Mustafa, S., Gariépy, G., Shah, J., Joober, R., Lepage, M., & Malla, A. (2018). A NEET distinction: youths not in employment, education or training follow different pathways to illness and care in psychosis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 53, 1401-1411. doi:10.1007/s00127-018-1565-3
Kamerade, D., & Bennett, M. R. (2018). Rewarding work: Cross-national differences in benefits, volunteering during unemployment, well-being and mental health. Work, Employment and Society, 32, 38-56. doi:10.1177/0950017016686030
Karaoglan, D., Begen, N., & Tat, P. (2022). Mental Health Problems and Risky Health Behaviors among Young Individuals in Turkey: The Case of Being NEET. The Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics, 25, 105-117.
Kvieskiene, G., Ivanova, I., Trasberg, K., Stasytyte, V., & Celiesiene, E. (2021). Modelling of social policy and initiatives under COVID-19: Rural NEET youth case study. Social Sciences, 10, 393. doi:10.3390/socsci10100393
Lopez-Lopez, J. A., Kwong, A. S., Washbrook, E., Pearson, R. M., Tilling, K., Fazel, M. S., ... Hammerton, G. (2020). Trajectories of depressive symptoms and adult educational and employment outcomes. BJPsych Open, 6, E6. doi:10.1192/bjo.2019.90
Lorentzen, T., Angelin, A., Dahl, E., Kauppinen, T., Moisio, P., & Salonen, T. (2014). Unemployment and economic security for young adults in Finland, Norway and Sweden: From unemployment protection to poverty relief. International Journal of Social Welfare, 23, 41-51. doi:10.1111/ijsw.12006
Madra, A., Akyuz, B. M., Aksoy, D., Polat, E., & Duskun, Y. (2018). Education Monitoring Report 2016-17. Report, Education Reform Initiative - Education Observatory.
Maguire, S. (2013). Will raising the participation age in England solve the NEET problem? Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 18, 61-76. doi:10.1080/13596748.2013.755816
Mascherini, M., Salvatore, L., Meierkord, A., & Jungblut, J.-M. (2012). NEETs: young people not in employment, education or training: characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe. Report, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
Minh, A., McLeod, C. B., Reijneveld, S. A., Veldman, K., van Zon, S. K., & Bultmann, U. (2023). The role of low educational attainment on the pathway from adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems to early adult labour market disconnection in the Dutch TRAILS cohort. SSM-Population Health, 21, 101300. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101300
Modini, M., Joyce, S., Mykletun, A., Christensen, H., Bryant, R. A., Mitchell, P. B., & Harvey, S. B. (2016). The mental health benefits of employment: Results of a systematic meta-review. Australasian Psychiatry, 24, 331-336. doi:10.1177/1039856215618523
O'Dea, B., Glozier, N., Purcell, R., McGorry, P. D., Scott, J., Feilds, K. L., & ... Hickie, I. B. (2014). A cross-sectional exploration of the clinical characteristics of disengaged (NEET) young people in primary mental healthcare. BMJ Open, 4, e006378. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006378
O'Dea, B., Lee, R. S., McGorry, P. D., Hickie, I. B., Scott, J., Hermens, D. F., & ... Glozier, N. (2016). A prospective cohort study of depression course, functional disability, and NEET status in help-seeking young adults. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 51, 1395-1404. doi:10.1007/s00127-016-1272-x
OECD. (2017). Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET). Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET). doi:10.1787/72d1033a-en
Ofsted. (2010). Reducing the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training: what works and why. Reducing the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training: what works and why.
Plenty, S., Magnusson, C., & Laftman, S. B. (2000). Internalising and externalising problems during adolescence and the subsequent likelihood of being Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) among males and females: The mediating role of school performance. SSM-population Health, 15, 100873. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100873
Power, E., Clarke, M., Kelleher, I., Coughlan, H., Lynch, F., Connor, D., ... Cannon, M. (2015). The association between economic inactivity and mental health among young people: a longitudinal study of young adults who are not in employment, education or training. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 32, 155-160. doi:10.1017/ipm.2014.85
Quinlan-Davidson, M., Shan, D., Courtney, D., Barbic, S., Cleverley, K., Hawke, L. D., ... Henderson, J. L. (2023). Associations over the COVID-19 pandemic period and the mental health and substance use of youth not in employment, education or training in Ontario, Canada: a longitudinal, cohort study. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 17. doi:10.1186/s13034-023-00653-4
Rodwell, L., Romaniuk, H., Nilsen, W., Carlin, J. B., Lee, K. J., & Patton, G. C. (2018). Adolescent mental health and behavioural predictors of being NEET: a prospective study of young adults not in employment, education, or training. Psychological Medicine, 48, 861-871. doi:10.1017/S0033291717002434
Schmidt, M., Werbrouck, A., Verhaeghe, N., Putman, K., Simoens, S., & Annemans, L. (2020). Universal mental health interventions for children and adolescents: a systematic review of health economic evaluations. Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 18, 155-175. doi:10.1007/s40258-019-00524-0
Shierholz, H., Sabadish, N., & Wething, H. (2012). The Class of 2012: Labor Market for Young Graduates Remains Grim. Briefing Paper, Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Vance, D. E., Bail, J., Enah, C. C., Palmer, J. J., & Hoenig, A. K. (2016). The impact of employment on cognition and cognitive reserve: implications across diseases and aging. Nursing: Research and Reviews, 6, 61-.
WHO. (2011). Global Status Report on Non-communicable Diseases 2010. Background Note, World Health Organization.
Bania, E. V., Eckhoff, C., & Kvernmo, S. (2019). Not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET) in an Arctic sociocultural context: the NAAHS cohort study. BMJ Open, 9, e023705. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023705
Basta, M., Karakonstantis, S., Koutra, K., Dafermos, V., Papargiris, A., Drakaki, M., ... Papadakis, N. (2019). NEET status among young Greeks: association with mental health and substance use. Journal of Affective Disorders, 253, 210-217. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.095
Benjet, C., Hernandez-Montoya, D., Borges, G., Mendez, E., Medina-Mora, M. E., & Aguilar-Gaxiola, S. (2012). Youth who neither study nor work: mental health, education and employment. Salud Pública de México, 54, 410-417.
Caruana, E., Allott, K., Farhall, J., Parrish, E. M., Davey, C. G., Chanen, A. M., ... Cotton, S. M. (2019). Factors associated with vocational disengagement among young people entering mental health treatment. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 13, 961-968. doi:10.1111/eip.12718
Chen, Y., Lv, C., Li, X., Zhang, J., Chen, K., Liu, Z., ... Zhang, Z. (2019). The positive impacts of early-life education on cognition, leisure activity, and brain structure in healthy aging. Aging (Albany NY), 11, 4923.
Cottini, E., & Ghinetti, P. (2017). Is it the way you live or the job you have? Health effects of lifestyles and working conditions. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 17, 20160222. doi:10.1515/bejeap-2016-0222
Cutler, D. M., Lleras-Muney, A., & Vogl, T. (2011). Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms. In S. Glied, & P. C. Smith (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Health Economics (pp. 124-163). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238828.013.0007
Feng, Z., Everington, D., Ralston, K., Dibben, C., Raab, G., & Graham, E. (2015). Consequences, risk factors, and geography of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). Research Findings, Scottish Government.
Fernandez-Suarez, A., Herrero, J., Perez, B., Juarros-Basterretxea, J., & Rodriguez-Diaz, F. J. (2016). Risk factors for school dropout in a sample of juvenile offenders. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1-7. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01993
Gariepy, G., Danna, S. M., Hawke, L., Henderson, J., & Iyer, S. N. (2022). The mental health of young people who are not in education, employment, or training: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 57, 1107–1121. doi:10.1007/s00127-021-02212-8
Gladwell, D., Popli, G., & Tsuchiya, A. (2015). Estimating the impact of health on NEET status. Research Paper, Sheffield Economics Research Paper Series.
Goldman‐Mellor, S., Caspi, A., Arseneault, L., Ajala, N., Ambler, A., Danese, A., ... Moffitt, T. E. (2016). Committed to work but vulnerable: Self‐perceptions and mental health in NEET 18‐year olds from a contemporary British cohort. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57, 196-203. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12459
Gutierrez-Garcia, R. A., Benjet, C., Borges, G., Mendez Rios, E., & Medina-Mora, M. E. (2017). NEET adolescents grown up: eight-year longitudinal follow-up of education, employment and mental health from adolescence to early adulthood in Mexico City. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 1459-1469. doi:10.1007/s00787-017-1004-0
Henderson, J. L., Hawke, L. D., Chaim, G., & Network, N. Y. (2017). Not in employment, education or training: Mental health, substance use, and disengagement in a multi-sectoral sample of service-seeking Canadian youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 75, 138-145. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.02.024
Hergenrather, K. C., Emmanuel, D., McGuire-Kuletz, M., & Rhodes, S. D. (2018). Employment as a social determinant of health: Exploring the relationship between neurocognitive function and employment status. Rehabilitation Research, Policy, and Education, 32, 101-122. doi:10.1891/2168-6653.32.2.101
Hjorth, C. F., Bilgrav, L., Frandsen, L. S., Overgaard, C., Torp-Pedersen, C., Nielsen, B., & Boggild, H. (2016). Mental health and school dropout across educational levels and genders: a 4.8-year follow-up study. BMC Public Health, 16, 1-12. doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3622-8
Holloway, E. M., Rickwood, D., Rehm, I. C., Meyer, D., Griffiths, S., & Telford, N. (2018). Non-participation in education, employment, and training among young people accessing youth mental health services: demographic and clinical correlates. Advances in Mental Health, 16, 19-32. doi:10.1080/18387357.2017.1342553
Hussmanns, R., Mehran, F., & Varmā, V. (1990). Surveys of economically active population, employment, unemployment, and underemployment: an ILO manual on concepts and methods. International Labour Organization.
ILO. (2013). Global employment trends for youth 2013; A generation at risk. Report, International Labour Organization.
ILO. (2015). What does NEETs mean and why is the concept so easily misinterpreted? Technical Brief No.1 Report, International Labour Organization.
ILO. (2023). Youth Employment. Youth Employment.
Iyer, S., Mustafa, S., Gariépy, G., Shah, J., Joober, R., Lepage, M., & Malla, A. (2018). A NEET distinction: youths not in employment, education or training follow different pathways to illness and care in psychosis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 53, 1401-1411. doi:10.1007/s00127-018-1565-3
Kamerade, D., & Bennett, M. R. (2018). Rewarding work: Cross-national differences in benefits, volunteering during unemployment, well-being and mental health. Work, Employment and Society, 32, 38-56. doi:10.1177/0950017016686030
Karaoglan, D., Begen, N., & Tat, P. (2022). Mental Health Problems and Risky Health Behaviors among Young Individuals in Turkey: The Case of Being NEET. The Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics, 25, 105-117.
Kvieskiene, G., Ivanova, I., Trasberg, K., Stasytyte, V., & Celiesiene, E. (2021). Modelling of social policy and initiatives under COVID-19: Rural NEET youth case study. Social Sciences, 10, 393. doi:10.3390/socsci10100393
Lopez-Lopez, J. A., Kwong, A. S., Washbrook, E., Pearson, R. M., Tilling, K., Fazel, M. S., ... Hammerton, G. (2020). Trajectories of depressive symptoms and adult educational and employment outcomes. BJPsych Open, 6, E6. doi:10.1192/bjo.2019.90
Lorentzen, T., Angelin, A., Dahl, E., Kauppinen, T., Moisio, P., & Salonen, T. (2014). Unemployment and economic security for young adults in Finland, Norway and Sweden: From unemployment protection to poverty relief. International Journal of Social Welfare, 23, 41-51. doi:10.1111/ijsw.12006
Madra, A., Akyuz, B. M., Aksoy, D., Polat, E., & Duskun, Y. (2018). Education Monitoring Report 2016-17. Report, Education Reform Initiative - Education Observatory.
Maguire, S. (2013). Will raising the participation age in England solve the NEET problem? Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 18, 61-76. doi:10.1080/13596748.2013.755816
Mascherini, M., Salvatore, L., Meierkord, A., & Jungblut, J.-M. (2012). NEETs: young people not in employment, education or training: characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe. Report, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
Minh, A., McLeod, C. B., Reijneveld, S. A., Veldman, K., van Zon, S. K., & Bultmann, U. (2023). The role of low educational attainment on the pathway from adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems to early adult labour market disconnection in the Dutch TRAILS cohort. SSM-Population Health, 21, 101300. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101300
Modini, M., Joyce, S., Mykletun, A., Christensen, H., Bryant, R. A., Mitchell, P. B., & Harvey, S. B. (2016). The mental health benefits of employment: Results of a systematic meta-review. Australasian Psychiatry, 24, 331-336. doi:10.1177/1039856215618523
O'Dea, B., Glozier, N., Purcell, R., McGorry, P. D., Scott, J., Feilds, K. L., & ... Hickie, I. B. (2014). A cross-sectional exploration of the clinical characteristics of disengaged (NEET) young people in primary mental healthcare. BMJ Open, 4, e006378. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006378
O'Dea, B., Lee, R. S., McGorry, P. D., Hickie, I. B., Scott, J., Hermens, D. F., & ... Glozier, N. (2016). A prospective cohort study of depression course, functional disability, and NEET status in help-seeking young adults. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 51, 1395-1404. doi:10.1007/s00127-016-1272-x
OECD. (2017). Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET). Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET). doi:10.1787/72d1033a-en
Ofsted. (2010). Reducing the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training: what works and why. Reducing the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training: what works and why.
Plenty, S., Magnusson, C., & Laftman, S. B. (2000). Internalising and externalising problems during adolescence and the subsequent likelihood of being Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) among males and females: The mediating role of school performance. SSM-population Health, 15, 100873. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100873
Power, E., Clarke, M., Kelleher, I., Coughlan, H., Lynch, F., Connor, D., ... Cannon, M. (2015). The association between economic inactivity and mental health among young people: a longitudinal study of young adults who are not in employment, education or training. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 32, 155-160. doi:10.1017/ipm.2014.85
Quinlan-Davidson, M., Shan, D., Courtney, D., Barbic, S., Cleverley, K., Hawke, L. D., ... Henderson, J. L. (2023). Associations over the COVID-19 pandemic period and the mental health and substance use of youth not in employment, education or training in Ontario, Canada: a longitudinal, cohort study. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 17. doi:10.1186/s13034-023-00653-4
Rodwell, L., Romaniuk, H., Nilsen, W., Carlin, J. B., Lee, K. J., & Patton, G. C. (2018). Adolescent mental health and behavioural predictors of being NEET: a prospective study of young adults not in employment, education, or training. Psychological Medicine, 48, 861-871. doi:10.1017/S0033291717002434
Schmidt, M., Werbrouck, A., Verhaeghe, N., Putman, K., Simoens, S., & Annemans, L. (2020). Universal mental health interventions for children and adolescents: a systematic review of health economic evaluations. Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, 18, 155-175. doi:10.1007/s40258-019-00524-0
Shierholz, H., Sabadish, N., & Wething, H. (2012). The Class of 2012: Labor Market for Young Graduates Remains Grim. Briefing Paper, Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Vance, D. E., Bail, J., Enah, C. C., Palmer, J. J., & Hoenig, A. K. (2016). The impact of employment on cognition and cognitive reserve: implications across diseases and aging. Nursing: Research and Reviews, 6, 61-.
WHO. (2011). Global Status Report on Non-communicable Diseases 2010. Background Note, World Health Organization.