Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38750531›Full record

ReviewBMC public health2024

How do labour market conditions explain the development of mental health over the life-course? a conceptual integration of the ecological model with life-course epidemiology in an integrative review of results from the Northern Swedish Cohort.

Anne Hammarström, Hugo Westerlund, Urban Janlert, Pekka Virtanen, Shirin Ziaei, Per-Olof Östergren

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in BMC public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Responsiveness of European countries to the population mental health needs: A cross-national comparison study.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025
    Article
  4. Relationship of Chronic Stress and Hypertension with Bone Resorption.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Anne HammarströmUnit of Occupational Medicine, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Solnavägen 4, Stockholm, 113 65, Sweden. anne.hammarstrom@ki.se.
Hugo WesterlundStress Research Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Urban JanlertDepartment of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Pekka VirtanenFaculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
Shirin ZiaeiUnit of Occupational Medicine, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Solnavägen 4, Stockholm, 113 65, Sweden.
Per-Olof ÖstergrenSocial Medicine and Global Health, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe aim of this study was to contribute to the theoretical development within the field of labour market effects on mental health during life by integrating Bronfenbrenner's ecological model with mainly earlier theoretical work on life-course theory.

methodsAn integrative review was performed of all 52 publications about labour market conditions in relation to mental health from the longitudinal Northern Swedish Cohort study. Inductive and deductive qualitative content analysis were performed in relation to Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework combined with life-course theories.

resultsThe following nine themes were identified: 1. Macroeconomic recession impairs mental health among young people. 2. The mental health effects on individuals of youth unemployment seem rather insensitive to recession. 3. Small but consistent negative effect of neighbourhood unemployment and other work-related disadvantaged on individuals' mental health over life. 4. Youth unemployment becomes embodied as scars of mental ill-health over life. 5. Weak labour market attachment impairs mental health over life. 6. Bidirectional relations between health and weak labour market attachment over life. 7. Macrolevel structures are of importance for how labour market position cause poor health. 8. Unequal gender relations at work impacts negatively on mental health. 9. The agency to improve health over life in dyadic relations. Unemployment in society permeates from the macrolevel into the exolevel, defined by Bronfenbrenner as for example the labour market of parents or partners or the neighbourhood into the settings closest to the individual (the micro- and mesolevel) and affects the relations between the work, family, and leisure spheres of the individual. Neighbourhood unemployment leads to poor health among those who live there, independent of their employment status. Individuals' exposure to unemployment and temporary employment leads to poorer mental health over the life-course. Temporal dimensions were identified and combined with Bronfenbrenner levels into a contextual life-course model

conclusionCombining the ecosocial theory with life-course theories provides a framework for understanding the embodiment of work-related mental health over life. The labour market conditions surrounding the individual are of crucial importance for the embodiment of mental health over life, at the same time as individual agency can be health promoting. Mental health can be improved by societal efforts in regulations of the labour market.

Indexed as

Mental HealthUnemploymentAdolescentAdultCohort StudiesEconomic RecessionEmploymentFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMental DisordersModels, TheoreticalSwedenYoung AdultAgencyEcosocial theoryEmbodimentLabour marketLife-course theoriesMental healthSocietal effortsTheories

Identifiers

PMID38750531
PMCPMC11094982

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.