Reviews studies which explore how unemployment may adversely affect health and how poor health may lead to unemployment. Investigates the potential impact of labour market policies on the employment and health of young people. Discusses the implications for research in this area.

The Social Determinants of Mental Health aims to fill the gap that exists in the psychiatric, scholarly, and policy-related literature on the social determinants of mental health: those factors stemming from where we learn, play, live, work, and age that impact our overall mental health and well-being. The editors and an impressive roster of chapter authors from diverse scholarly backgrounds provide detailed information on topics such as discrimination and social exclusion; adverse early life experiences; poor education; unemployment, underemployment, and job insecurity; income inequality, poverty, and neighborhood deprivation; food insecurity; poor housing quality and housing instability; adverse features of the built environment; and poor access to mental health care. This thought-provoking book offers many beneficial features for clinicians and public health professionals: Clinical vignettes are included, designed to make the content accessible to readers who are primarily clinicians and also to demonstrate the practical, individual-level applicability of the subject matter for those who typically work at the public health, population, and/or policy level. Policy implications are discussed throughout, designed to make the content accessible to readers who work primarily at the public health or population level and also to demonstrate the policy relevance of the subject matter for those who typically work at the clinical level. All chapters include five to six key points that focus on the most important content, helping to both prepare the reader with a brief overview of the chapter's main points and reinforce the "take-away" messages afterward. In addition to the main body of the book, which focuses on selected individual social determinants of mental health, the volume includes an in-depth overview that summarizes the editors' and their colleagues' conceptualization, as well as a final chapter coauthored by Dr. David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States, that serves as a "Call to Action," offering specific actions that can be taken by both clinicians and policymakers to address the social determinants of mental health. The editors have succeeded in the difficult task of balancing the individual/clinical/patient perspective and the population/public health/community point of view, while underscoring the need for both groups to work in a unified way to address the inequities in twenty-first century America. The Social Determinants of Mental Health gives readers the tools to understand and act to improve mental health and reduce risk for mental illnesses for individuals and communities. Students preparing for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) will also benefit from this book, as the MCAT in 2015 will test applicants' knowledge of social determinants of health. The social determinants of mental health are not distinct from the social determinants of physical health, although they deserve special emphasis given the prevalence and burden of poor mental health.

The experience of unemployment or underemployment can cause substantial psychological and social impairment in the lives of those who are unable to find good quality work. People who suffer from mental health problems are over-represented amongst the unemployed when compared to those who are gainfully employed. The overarching goal of this project was to investigate the mechanisms through which unemployment and underemployment may impact mental health. Three factors that have emerged as important predictors of poor mental health in the unemployed are financial hardship, social support and a sense of control/mastery. This thesis presents three studies centred on the links between mental health and employment status, and explores the role of mastery, financial hardship, and social support. The first study used longitudinal data from a community sample from the Canberra/Queanbeyan region. Two thousand, three hundred and eighty-nine participants initially aged in their early twenties were followed across eight years and three waves. Social support, financial hardship and mastery all emerged as important mediating variables in the relationship between unemployment and depression, compared to the employed. These results suggest that these factors are indeed salient characteristics in the experience of unemployment. By contrast, for the underemployed group, only financial hardship demonstrated a mediating effect on the association between underemployment and depression - suggesting that even inadequate employment may provide a greater source of mastery and social support than no work at all. The second study also used longitudinal data to build upon these findings by using a nationally representative sample from three waves, as well as exploring the impact of duration of unemployment on mental health. The results broadly supported the findings of Study 1 regarding unemployment, though the findings differed regarding underemployment. Financial hardship, mastery and social support all emerged as important explanatory factors for poor mental health differences (compared to the employed) for both under- and unemployment states. In regards to the impact of time spent unemployed on mental health, comparison of respondents with different durations of unemployment suggested that for the first 9 weeks of unemployment there is a strong negative association between mental health and duration of unemployment. However, after these first nine weeks mental health does not continue to decline. This is a particularly salient finding given recent Australian Government policy changes that have proposed a 'wait-time' before individuals can claim welfare assistance after losing a job. The final study investigated whether mastery, social support and financial hardship was related to high depressive symptomatology within a sample of unemployed and under-employed individuals (n = 192). Furthermore, it explored how these factors may influence key factors related to reemployment, or indeed continued unemployment: job search intensity, job search expectations and intentions. The results indicated that differences in depression were related to financial hardship, mastery and some measures of social support, as were those in the first seven weeks of unemployment. These correlates of depression were also shown to be associated with job seeker's job search intensity, expectations and intentions - suggesting that the factors associated with poor mental health also play a role in job search outcomes. The results of these studies have three main implications. First, financial hardship, social support and a sense of mastery help to explain differences seen in the mental health between employment states (unemployed v. employed, underemployed v. employed), as well as being important correlates of depression amongst the unemployed and underemployed. Second, the impact of financial hardship, social support and a sense of mastery on the job search process may hinder or enhance chances of reemployment. Finally, future research needs to more comprehensively consider the duration of unemployment when investigating the impact of unemployment on mental health, as the results suggest that there is not a linear relationship. There are also important implications from these findings for the types of psychological and other support that is most applicable for those who are unemployed.

Young adulthood - ages approximately 18 to 26 - is a critical period of development with long-lasting implications for a person's economic security, health and well-being. Young adults are key contributors to the nation's workforce and military services and, since many are parents, to the healthy development of the next generation. Although 'millennials' have received attention in the popular media in recent years, young adults are too rarely treated as a distinct population in policy, programs, and research. Instead, they are often grouped with adolescents or, more often, with all adults. Currently, the nation is experiencing economic restructuring, widening inequality, a rapidly rising ratio of older adults, and an increasingly diverse population. The possible transformative effects of these features make focus on young adults especially important. A systematic approach to understanding and responding to the unique circumstances and needs of today's young adults can help to pave the way to a more productive and equitable tomorrow for young adults in particular and our society at large. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults describes what is meant by the term young adulthood, who young adults are, what they are doing, and what they need. This study recommends actions that nonprofit programs and federal, state, and local agencies can take to help young adults make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. According to this report, young adults should be considered as a separate group from adolescents and older adults. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults makes the case that increased efforts to improve high school and college graduate rates and education and workforce development systems that are more closely tied to high-demand economic sectors will help this age group achieve greater opportunity and success. The report also discusses the health status of young adults and makes recommendations to develop evidence-based practices for young adults for medical and behavioral health, including preventions. What happens during the young adult years has profound implications for the rest of the life course, and the stability and progress of society at large depends on how any cohort of young adults fares as a whole. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults will provide a roadmap to improving outcomes for this age group as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.