Investigating young adults’ mental health and early working life trajectories from a life course perspective: the role of transitions

Abstract

BackgroundMany young adults leave the labour market because of mental health problems or never really enter it, through early moves onto disability benefits. Across many countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, between 30% and 50% of all new disability benefit claims are due to mental health problems; among young adults this moves up to 50%–80%.OutlineWe propose a research agenda focused on transitions in building young adults’ mental health and early working life trajectories, considering varying views for subgroups of a society. First, we briefly review five transition characteristics, then we elaborate a research agenda with specific research questions.Research agendaOur research agenda focuses on transitions as processes, in time and place and as sensitive periods, when examining young adults’ mental health and early working life trajectories from a life course perspective. As more and more childhood and adolescent cohorts mature and facilitate research on later life labour market, work and health outcomes, transition research can help guide policy and practice interventions.Future cross-disciplinary researchIn view of the many challenges young adults face when entering the changing world of work and labour markets, future research on transitions in young adults related to their mental health and early working life trajectories will provide ample opportunities for collaborative cross-disciplinary research and stimulate debate on this important challenge.

Demographic and clinical characteristics of foreign nationals accessing psychiatric services in Japan: a multicentre study in a metropolitan area

“…This means that the inflow of foreign nationals in their youth or early adulthood has increased in Japan. Mental health problems in young adults negatively impact academic, professional and social activities [ 43 ]. While the distribution of psychiatric patients by age generally follows the distribution of the total population by age in Japan [ 38 , 44 ], the age distribution of foreign nationals who visited psychiatric department at three hospitals was dissociated from the age distribution of foreign nationals who resided in Japan (Fig.…”

How Will the Future of Work Shape OSH Research and Practice? A Workshop Summary

“…To accurately assess mental health and other well-being outcomes, OSH research must adopt a working-life continuum perspective (i.e., analyzing workers across the lifespan) to account for the fact that worker health does not simply begin with the first paycheck [51,52]. Rather, there are critical or sensitive developmental periods, transitions, and accumulation of risk through sequences of linked events or exposures occurring from birth onward that have lasting effects throughout the life course [53,54]. The nature and timing of these events and transitions are constructed by the underlying social context, which is itself shaped by political changes and the global economy [52].…”

Demographic and clinical characteristics of foreign nationals accessing psychiatric services in Japan: A multicentre study in a metropolitan area

“…This means that the in ow of foreign nationals in their youth or early adulthood has increased in Japan. Mental health problems in young adults negatively impact academic, professional and social activities [43]. While the distribution of psychiatric patients by age generally follows the distribution of the total population by age in Japan [38,44], the age distribution of foreign nationals who visited psychiatric department at three hospitals was dissociated from the age distribution of foreign nationals who resided in Japan (Figure 1) [7].…”