SynthesisSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2022
The mental health of young people who are not in education, employment, or training: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 117 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tobacco and cannabis use in the young 'Not in Employment, Education or Training' population: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Pooled it
- The association between mental health problems in childhood and adolescence and educational and labor market outcomes in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis of register data studies.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Pooled it
- Associations Between Employment and Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Reviews.Journal of occupational rehabilitation · 2026Pooled it
- Social connection interventions and depression in young adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Pooled it
- From illness to inactivity: Exploring the influence of physical diseases on youth Not in Education, Employment, or Training status in Europe: A systematic literature review.Journal of adolescence · 2024Pooled it
- Depression and Anxiety in Voluntarily Unemployed People: A Systematic Review.La Medicina del lavoro · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Efficacy of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) on Employment, Education, and Training in Young Adults With Early Psychosis-A Randomized Controlled Trial.Brain and behavior · 2025Trial
- Predictors of return to work for people on sick leave with depression, anxiety and stress: secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2023Trial
- Debts and experienced financial scarcity: associations with nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidality in adolescents at risk for psychopathology.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Failure to Launch (FTL): A Narrative Review and Call for Research.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- Among key social determinants, connection associated with lowest odds of non-suicidal self-injury and suicidal ideation among Australian youth.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- From Five-Number Summary to Absolute Heterogeneity: Recent Methodological Advances in Meta-Analysis With Continuous Outcomes.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2026Review
- Mental well-being in 15-19-year-old adolescents and poor school connectedness, dropout, and NEET status: a prospective cohort study.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Article
- Article
- Effects of an App-Based Intervention on Psychological Well-Being Among Young Individuals not in Employment, Education, or Training With and Those Without Disability: Subgroup Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2026Article
- Poverty and family adversity trajectories and not in education, employment or training (NEET) status in late adolescence: evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Sanctuary to sinkhole and back again: video gaming and esport as a transition environment for young people at risk of marginalization.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Pathways to labor engagement: young people's experiences of social prescribing as a response to the NEET phenomenon.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThere are increasing concerns about the intersection between NEET (not in education, employment, or training) status and youth mental ill-health and substance use. However, findings are inconsistent and differ across types of problems. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO-CRD42018087446) on the association between NEET status and youth mental health and substance use problems.
methodsWe searched Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science, ERIC, PsycINFO, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (1999-2020). Two reviewers extracted data and appraised study quality using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. We ran robust variance estimation random-effects models for associations between NEET and aggregate groups of mental ill-health and substance use measures; conventional random-effects models for associations with individual mental/substance use problems; and subgroup analyses to explore heterogeneity.
resultsWe identified 24 studies from 6,120 references. NEET status was associated with aggregate groups of mental ill-health (OR 1.28, CI 1.06-1.54), substance use problems (OR 1.43, CI 1.08-1.89), and combined mental ill-health and substance use measures (OR 1.38, CI 1.15-1.64). Each disaggregated measure was associated with NEET status [mood (OR 1.43, CI 1.21-1.70), anxiety (OR 1.55, CI 1.07-2.24), behaviour problems (OR 1.49, CI 1.21-1.85), alcohol use (OR 1.28, CI 1.24-1.46), cannabis use (OR 1.62, CI 1.07-2.46), drug use (OR 1.99, CI 1.19-3.31), suicidality (OR 2.84, CI 2.04-3.95); and psychological distress (OR 1.10, CI 1.01-1.21)]. Longitudinal data indicated that aggregate measures of mental health problems and of mental health and substance use problems (combined) predicted being NEET later, while evidence for the inverse relationship was equivocal and sparse.
conclusionOur review provides evidence for meaningful, significant associations between youth mental health and substance use problems and being NEET. We, therefore, advocate for mental ill-health prevention and early intervention and integrating vocational supports in youth mental healthcare.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.