ArticleThe International journal of social psychiatry2023
Mental distress and substance use among rural Black South African youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET).
Article in The International journal of social psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Feasibility and acceptability of unconditional cash transfers intervention among unemployed young adults with first-episode psychosis in South Africa: a pilot randomized controlled trial.International journal of mental health · 2026Article
- The health status of South African youth joining Youth Employment Initiatives: a health promotion opportunity.Health promotion international · 2025Article
- Changes in quality of life over time through the lens of young people aged 18-24 in 2016 in Gauteng Province of South Africa.PloS one · 2025Article
- Mitigating the impact of adolescence isolation on the development of social anxiety: A potential role for oxytocin.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Review
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2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundSouth Africa (SA) has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment and youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), even higher among Black South Africans. SA's NEET rates are 3 times those of UK; 5.4 times of Germany; 1.3 times of Brazil; and 2.5 times of Malaysia. Given that youths between 15 and 24 years of age make up 24% of the total population, these are significant challenges for the economy and further fuel the cyclical, pervasive and enduring nature of poverty. We hypothesised that rural youth who are NEET would have a greater prevalence of mental disorders and higher rates of substance use compared to their non-NEET counterparts. The objective of the study is to determine the differences in rates of psychological distress and substance use between NEET and non-NEET rural African 14- to 24-year-old young men.
methodsThe study took place in a remote and rural district municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We divided the district's five sub-municipalities into two clusters (large and small) and randomly selected one from each cluster for inclusion in the study. We further randomly selected wards from each sub-municipality and then rural settlements from each ward, for inclusion in the study. We recruited young men as part of a larger study to explore sociocultural factors important in gender-based violence in rural SA. We compared 15- to 19-year old and 20- to 24-year old youth NEET and non-NEET on rates of psychological distress symptoms (depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness and worthlessness) and substance misuse (including alcohol, cannabis, other recreational drugs) using a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) statistics at
resultsAbout 23% of the 355 male participants were NEET. There were no statistically significant differences in psychological distress or substance use between youth NEET and non-NEET, controlling for age.
conclusionThe study highlights difficult transitions to post-secondary education and work for Black youth in rural SA where opportunities for employment are limited. Education, training and employment appear to offer limited benefit.
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