Journal article

Poor mental health influences risk and duration of unemployment: A prospective study

P Butterworth, LS Leach, J Pirkis, M Kelaher

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Published : 2012

Abstract

Purpose: The current paper aims to investigate the role of mental health in determining future employment status. Much of the previous longitudinal and prospective research has focused on how unemployment adversely influences mental health, while the reverse causal direction has received much less attention. Methods: This study uses five waves of data from 5,846 respondents in the HILDA survey, a nationally representative household panel survey conducted annually since 2001. Prospective analyses followed a group of respondents who were not unemployed at baseline across four subsequent years and investigated whether baseline mental health was associated with subsequent unemployment. Results: ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

The HILDA survey was initiated and is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). The findings and views reported in this report, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either FaHCSIA or the MIAESR. This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council Career Development Award 525410 to PB.