PhD Kelly Huegaerts

The effect of (un)employment on the self-reported mental health of socially vulnerable youth in the Brussels region. A research protocol

2014-2019

Summary:

It is well known that the mental health of unemployed people is worse than the mental health of their employed contemporaries. We also know that vulnerable groups in society tend to accumulate characteristics with a negative health impact. Certainly work and employment are important in that respect. At the same time we are facing high unemployment rates of (vulnerable) young people living in the Brussels Region. This research focuses on unemployment and active labour market policies as social determinants of mental health in young people. This will be done by focussing on the perspective of low educated youth. A longitudinal qualitative and quantitative research design will be used, in order to assess the complex relations between unemployment, (re-)employment through activation methods and mental health in the population under study. These results will provide more insight regarding the impact of (un)employment on the mental health of low educated youth and on the consequences of different trajectories on their mental health. Consequently different organisations working with and around the topic of youth unemployment and welfare in the Brussels Region will be able to valorise the results of this research.