Unemployment and the health of Slovak adolescents

Research on unemployment started during the 1930’s and still attracts the attention of many researchers. It has been found that job loss has serious negative consequences for many aspects of the individual’s life. However, the influence of unemployment on the individual is not simple and is moderated by a large number of individual and situational variables, many of which need to be explored. Unemployment is one of the factors which are important also for the health and well-being of adolescents. Relationships between the health of young people and unemployment can be viewed from two perspectives. Firstly, their own unemployment can have serious negative health consequences for them. Secondly, among those living with their parents, unemployment of one or both parents could also cause serious health problems. The main aim of the present study was to explore both perspectives. The first chapter of this thesis provides basic information about unemployment in society and individual joblessness. It also describes some differences in experiences of unemployment between adolescents and adults and shows possibilities of connections between parental unemployment and the health of adolescents. At the end of the chapter five research questions are formulated, focusing on the health of adolescents (chapter 3); the relationship between their employment status and health with mediating effects of financial strain and social support (chapter 4); the effect of parental unemployment with the mediating effect of financial strain (chapter 5); the effect of parental support on adolescents’ health in situations of differing employment status of the parents (chapter 6); and finally, the cultural and societal context in the relationship between parental unemployment and adolescents’ health is studied (chapter 7)

Does social support mediate or moderate socioeconomic differences in self-rated health among adolescents?

OBJECTIVE: Social support is assumed to be a protective social determinant of health. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore whether social support from the father, mother and friends mediates or moderates the association between socioeconomic position and self-rated health among adolescents. METHODS: The sample consisted of 1,863 secondary school students from the Kosice region in Slovakia (mean age 16.85; 53.3% females, response rate 98.9%). We assessed the mediation and moderation effects of social support from the mother, father and friends on the relation between socioeconomic position and self-rated health, performing binary logistic regression models. Socioeconomic position was measured by parents’ education, the family affluence scale and financial strain. RESULTS: Social support from the father mediated the association between family affluence and self-rated health among both males and females and the association between financial strain and self-rated health among males only. No moderating effect of social support on socioeconomic differences in self-rated health was found. CONCLUSION: Father involvement seems to have the potential to mediate socioeconomic differences in health during adolescence

The impact of unemployment on school leavers' perception of health. Mediating effect of financial situation and social contacts?

Objectives: The main purpose of this paper is to explore whether unemployment influences adolescents' subjective perception of health and whether perceived financial stress and social contacts can mediate the effect of employment status on health. We are also interested in the differences in financial situation and social contacts between unemployed secondary school leavers and their employed and studying counterparts. Methods: Data were obtained from 844 adolescents (mean age 19.6) from Slovakia. The effect of unemployment on several health indicators was measured and subsequently controlled for perceived financial strain of respondents and their social contacts. Results: The results showed highest financial strain among unemployed, whereas only small differences in social contacts were found between three groups. Negative influence of unemployment on perceived health of respondents was confirmed. Nevertheless, strong influence was found only on long-term well-being and mental health. Financial situation and social contacts contributed to the prediction of almost all health outcomes, and to some extent mediated the effect of unemployment. Conclusions: Although unemployment was found to have a negative impact on health of adolescents, sufficiency of social contacts and good financial situation seem to decrease this effect and protect the health of unemployed people

Editorial: Community series in the consequences of COVID-19 on the mental well-being of parents, children and adolescents, volume II

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Influence of parental employment status on Dutch and Slovak adolescents' health

BACKGROUND: Recent research shows the possibility that the link between parental employment status and children's health can be affected by different cultural or societal settings. The aim of this study was to explore whether the effect of father's and mother's employment status on several aspects of adolescents' health differs between Slovakia and the Netherlands. METHODS: Two data sets were used: 2616 Slovak adolescents (mean age 14.9) and 2054 Dutch adolescents (mean age 16.3). Self-rated health, GHQ-12, long-term well-being and Rosenberg self-esteem scale were used to assess the health of adolescents. Parental employment status was classified into the following categories: employed, unemployed, disabled, housewife (among mothers only). Logistic regression analyses were done separately for males and females. RESULTS: Results indicate that having an unemployed father negatively influences self-rated health and long-term well-being of Slovak male adolescents, but has no effect on the health of Dutch adolescents. Secondly, having a disabled father has a negative effect on the psychological well-being of Dutch males and the self-rated health of females, but does not influence the health of Slovak adolescents. Thirdly, having a mother who is disabled, unemployed or a housewife has a negative effect on the self-esteem of Slovak adolescents. Fourthly, Dutch males whose mother was a housewife had worse long-term well-being than those with an unemployed mother, whereas Dutch females whose mother was a housewife reported better psychological well-being than those with an employed mother. CONCLUSION: To conclude briefly our results, father's unemployment seems to be a better predictor of health for Slovak adolescents, father's disablement of health for Dutch ones. Mother's employment status seemed to be important for the self-esteem of Slovak adolescents and mother as a housewife for the health of Dutch ones. This suggests that the link between parental employment status and the health of their children may vary between countries, and therefore further studies involving various cultures are needed