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Public health
Research
Not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET) in an Arctic sociocultural context: the NAAHS cohort study
  1. Elisabeth Valmyr Bania1,
  2. Christian Eckhoff2,3,
  3. Siv Kvernmo2,3
  1. 1 Department of Mental Health, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
  2. 2 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway
  3. 3 Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
  1. Correspondence to Dr Elisabeth Valmyr Bania; elisabeth.bania{at}ntnu.no

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of the study is to explore the prevalence and predictors of not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET) status in a multicultural young adult population in Northern Norway.

Design and setting The longitudinal design link a self-reported survey (2003–2005) with an objective registry linkage follow-up 8–10 years later.

Participants Of all 5877 tenth graders (aged 15–16 years) in Northern Norway, 83% of the total age cohort from all 87 municipalities participated in the baseline survey. The follow-up studies consisted of 3987 consent giving adolescents (68%), were 365 (9.2%) reported indigenous Sami ethnicity.

Outcome measures Youth NEET at the age of 23–25 years.

Methods Explanatory variables were sociodemographic factors (gender, ethnicity, residency, parental education), mental health problems and musculoskeletal pain in adolescence. Outcome variable characterised as NEET-status was defined by no educational engagement, long-term recipient of sickness benefit, medical and non-medical benefit receipt or long-term unemployment.

Results NEET-status in young adulthood was significantly higher among females (20.9%) than among males (16.2%). Ethnic differences occurred as being NEET among Sami males was significantly higher than among non-Sami males, 23.0% and 15.2% respectively. Minority Sami females experienced NEET-status to a lower degree (16.6%) than non-Sami females (20.8%). Among females adolescent peer problems (adjusted OR=1.09) and hyperactivity problems (adjusted OR=1.10) were associated with later NEET-status. Peer problems (adjusted OR=1.23), conduct problems (adjusted OR=1.17) and musculoskeletal problems (adjusted OR=1.15) in male adolescents were associated with later NEET-status, whereas emotional problems among males predicted significantly less later NEET- status (adjusted OR=0.88).

We found lower parental education to be significantly associated with being NEET-later in young adults (females: adjusted OR=2.11, males: adjusted OR=3.22).

Conclusions To address the disengagement of education and work, particular emphasis must be placed on supporting young people struggling with mental and physical health problems.

  • NEET-status
  • young adults
  • parental education
  • mental health problems
  • musculoskeletal pain
  • indigenous
  • longitudinal design
  • public health

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023705

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors EVB has contributed to the concept and design of the study, the acquisition of registry data, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting and revising the manuscript. CE has contributed in the analysis and interpretation of data, critical review and revision of the manuscript. SK has been the project manager of the Norwegian Arctic Adolescent Health Study, being responsible for the content of the questionnaire and the data collection. SK has supervised all processes of drafting the manuscript, in the interpretation of data and in revising the manuscript.All authors have read and approved the revised manuscript.

    • Funding The work was funded by the SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge Donations Fund and the Sami Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Mental Health and Substance Use (SANKS), in addition to the Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Tromsoe, The Arctic University of Norway as well as Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare (RKBU Central Norway), Department of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU.

    • Disclaimer The researchers were independent of the funding bodies.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement This epidemiological study consists of data not traceable. All data are erased by 31 December 2017. No additional data are available.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.